Much is at stake in Ukraine’s resistance against the brutal Russian invasion launched in February 2022. Not only are lives at stake in Europe,rising powers elsewhere are looking on,closely examining the West’s resolve. Ukraine’s fight may be a long way from Australia but the ramifications of a Russian victory could have real consequences closer to home.
Rob Harris reports from Ukraine where women’s shelters tell the story of the plight of women and children in the war-torn country.
While Australia offers paltry assistance,other nations are showing what genuine support should look like. The US Congress this week overcame rising division about the Ukraine war effort to approve a for the war-torn country. Much of the money will be spent providing Ukraine with air defence systems,weapons and ammunition.
TheHerald’s international affairs editor Peter Hartcher called the decisive. “Without it,Kyiv’s ability to withstand Moscow would be tested severely and it might have been forced prematurely to the negotiating table. With it,Ukraine is able confidently to continue the fight,” he wrote on Tuesday.
Then on Tuesday morning Australian time,British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak unveiled a new £500 million ($957 million),which will include equipment designed to deter Russia’s bombardment of power stations. Sunak says this brings to £3 billion the total UK military aid for Ukraine this financial year.
The British package includes 60 boats,some 1600 strike and air defence missiles,long-range precision-guided missiles,160 protected mobility “Husky” vehicles,162 armoured vehicles and 78 all-terrain vehicles,and nearly four million rounds of small arms ammunition.
“If Putin is allowed to succeed in this war of aggression,he will not stop at the Polish border,” Sunak observed.
In a recent address to the nation,Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was grateful “to everyone in the world who is willing to help us”.
For more than a year now theHerald has repeatedly urged the federal Labor government to do more but,regrettably,action has been minimal. Compared to other major nations,our support is minuscule. The only wealthy non-NATO members contributing less than Australia are New Zealand and Taiwan. Japan,South Korea,Switzerland,Austria,Ireland,Cyprus and Malta have all contributed more as a percentage of GDP.
It’s not as though we lacked opportunities to help. After rejecting repeated pleas to send a batch of Hawkei protected mobility vehicles last year,the Australian government recently declined a Ukrainian request to gain access to the army’s retired fleet of Taipan MRH-90 helicopters. Ukraine has also yet to receive a response to its request for a shipment of Australian coal to help with its energy needs.
Australia’s poor track record has the potential to shift this week when Defence Minister Richard Marles becomes the first government minister to visit Ukraine since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese travelled to Kyiv in July 2022.
He may well have a package of assistance to announce. If so,it had better meet the moment. As Rob Harris,theHerald’s Europe correspondent,recently summarised following a trip to Kyiv:“It is in everyone’s interest for Australia to put aside small and miserly spats over department budgets and look up over the horizon. This isn’t a quarrel in a land far away,it’s a battle at the heart of everything we value.”
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