Aust answers the call
AUSTRALIA will send armoured military vehicles to Ukraine in response to a direct request from its wartime President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Scott Morrison on Friday morning said the commonwealth would send Bushmaster troop carriers to the eastern European nation to support its resistance against the Russian invasion, now in its second month.
Mr Morrison was light on the details and it is yet to be made clear how many Bush
masters will be sent to Ukraine, when they will get there, or how much it will cost.
Mr Zelensky addressed Australia’s parliament on Thursday night via video link, asking for the armoured vehicles as part of an impassioned plea for greater military support to arm Ukrainians “fighting against evil”.
“For example you have very good armoured personnel vehicle, Bushmaster, that could help Ukraine substantially and other pieces of equipment that could strengthen our position in terms of armament,” Mr Zelensky said through a translator.
“If you have an opportunity to share this with us we would be very grateful. In Ukraine they will do much more for our common freedom and our common security than staying parked on your land.”
Following his address, Mr Morrison announced the federal government would commit an additional $25m in military aid to Ukraine.
Mr Morrison on Friday thanked Mr Zelensky for speaking to Australia in what he said had been a “truly majestic occasion”.
“We are sending our guns, ammunitions, humanitarian aid, all of this, our body armour, all of these things,” he said in western Sydney.
“And we will send out armoured vehicles, Bushmasters as well, and we will fly them over there in our C-17s to make sure they can be there to support them.”
Mr Morrison said he was in discussions with Defence Minister Peter Dutton and their Ukrainian counterparts on arrangements for the vehicles to be sent.
Mr Dutton earlier said officials were working out the logistics of getting the vehicles to Ukraine in the numbers the country needs.
“Even on one of the huge planes, you can probably only put three, maybe four, so it takes a lot to get them there,” Mr Dutton told the ABC.
“So we’re just seeing what else is available in Europe that we might be able to source closer to Ukraine, because normally we put them on a ship and they could sail but I don’t think we’ve got those kinds of timelines.”
The Bushmaster armoured carriers are built to carry up to 10 troops in a blast-resistant shell. French company Thales manufactures them in the central Victorian town of Bendigo.