Australia to continue ‘discussions’ with Ukraine about more military aid

Australia could send more military assistance to Ukraine in the months ahead, but whether that includes aircraft remains up in the air, Defence Minister Richard Marles says.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of NATO overnight and committed a further 30 Bushmasters to Kyiv – bringing the number of donated vehicles to 120.

The latest announcement comes weeks after Australia committed a $110m assistance package, and earlier this week Mr Albanese announced a highly capable surveillance aircraft would be based in Germany to help monitor the flow of military and humanitarian supplies into Ukraine.

Ukraine has long been asking for more Bushmasters but has also been asking for Hawkeis, a lightweight version of the protected mobility vehicle.

Mr Albanese said ongoing supply chains issues meant it was not possible to give Ukraine the vehicles because “we want to make sure that we maximise the effectiveness of what we provide to Ukraine”.

“We want to make sure that we provide equipment that maximises the positive difference that it will make, and that’s why Bushmasters we know do that,” he said from Lithuania.

Mr Albanese told Mr Zelenskyy that Australia would “remain with you for as long as this takes for you to restore your sovereignty and repel this brutal invasion”.

Mr Marles echoed his sentiment on Thursday morning, saying that whatever assistance Australia announced for Ukraine, it needed to “be practical, and it needs to make a difference for Ukraine in a timely way”.

Asked about whether Australia would consider sending Ukraine aircraft, as it has been requesting, Mr Marles said Australia would continue to engage in conversation with Ukraine.

“About the sorts of things they might need in the context of the fight that they understand best,” Mr Marles told ABC Radio.

“But also knowing that the platforms that they’re asking of us are ones that we operate, so we know best. And so there is actually a dialogue there about how we can best ultimately support them and various announcements that have been seen really since we came to government are the expression that the situation around aircraft is pretty complicated.

“We’ll keep having the conversations.”

Mr Marles said questions of technology, timeliness and abilities to operate the platform “clearly” came into play with aircraft.

“Aircraft becomes a much more complicated question when you consider all those factors,” he said.

“There is an ongoing discussion which is an important one and has been a very thorough and fruitful one between ourselves and Ukraine.

“But the ultimate end of that discussion needs to be contributions which are practical and timely and are going to make a difference.”