As the war sinks into stalemate, Ukraine’s pleas grow ever more urgent. With Albanese soon heading to a NATO summit, those demands are aimed at Australia, too.
. With his usual flair for the theatrical, he also gave the men a piece of paper: a wishlist of further sanctions against Russia.About 2000 kilometres away in Brussels, NATO defence ministers were holding a two-day summit, alongside Russia-wary partners such as Finland, Sweden and Georgia.
The alliance has invited the leaders of Japan, South Korea and Australia to the summit, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has accepted. But this may increase expectations of Australian support. Myroshnychenko hopes Albanese will accept Zelensky’s personal invitation to visit Ukraine after the NATO leaders summit: “If he goes to Madrid, if he goes to Paris, he should come to Kyiv.”
Ryan says the government should make available more armoured vehicles and another battery of six Howitzers. “Every gun helps.”He says Australia could also provide more combat body armour and helmets, uniforms and boots and medical supplies which are all quickly consumed. He also says Australia should be willing to offer its Steyr rifle to Ukrainian troops. “At some point they are going to run out of Soviet ammo for their small arms,” he says.
Even the big donors are starting to struggle. British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said this week that there was “little left on our own shelves”, with Britain now buying 155mm howitzers from other places to send to Ukraine.NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg spoke for many in the West when he warned that it was not enough just to ship weapons: the real challenge was to ensure Ukrainians were trained to use and maintain them.