Australian weapons and military aid has arrived in Ukraine on air force plans after Scott Morrison pledged to support its war against Russia.
Photos show a Royal Australian Air Force C-17A Globemaster delivering defensive military to the Ukrainian government on Sunday.
The delivery is despite several threats from Russian leader Putin that any country that intervenes in the Ukraine invasion would face ‘severe consequences’.
Photos from Sunday show a Royal Australian Air Force C-17A Globemaster delivering defensive military to the Ukrainian government
The Australian Defence Force delivered defensive military assistance to the Ukrainian government on Sunday
Defence Minister Peter Dutton told ABC’s Insiders program that promised lethal aid has arrived in partnership with the UK and the US, but declined to say what form it took.
‘I’m not going into that or where it has arrived into or how we’ve got it into the hands of the Ukrainians,’ Mr Dutton said.
‘There is more assistance we want to provide.’
Australia last week pledged $70 million in lethal and non-lethal military aid, which Prime Minister Scott Morrison said would include missiles and ammunition.
President Zelenskiy told Mr Morrison in a phone call he deeply appreciates Australia’s military and humanitarian assistance.
Mr Zelenskiy tweeted on Saturday night that he had updated Mr Morrison on the course of the war ‘as well as risks to people and the environment due to the threat to Ukrainian nuclear and chemical facilities’.
Mr Zelenskiy said he deeply appreciated the support from Australia, according to an official readout of the call, while Mr Morrison told him Australia stood with Ukraine against Russia’s aggression and unprovoked assault.
The prime minister also praised Ukraine’s incredible courage and condemned Russia’s actions, on behalf of all Australians.
A Royal Australian Air Force C-17A Globemaster delivered the aid, which was collected by trucks
Australia is also supporting resolutions in the United Nations and backing International Criminal Court action in support of Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the sanctions being imposed by the west ‘are akin to a declaration of war but thank God it has not come to that’.
‘It is very hard to get inside President Putin’s mind to understand the rationale of what he is doing now, let alone what his next step will also be,’ Mr Dutton said.
‘Everything at the moment is designed to try and continue the pressure on Vladimir Putin, those around him, those who have been the financial beneficiaries of the corruption within Russia, and hopefully, ultimately, they can turn back, but there is clearly no sign of that.’
Liberal senator James Paterson, who chairs the parliamentary joint committee and intelligence and security, is currently on an official trip to the US where he was briefed in Washington and the United Nations.
He says there is some cautious optimism at the remarkable united response that the global community has presented to Russia and President Putin.
‘There has been incredible resolve about enacting the highest possible costs on Putin and his cronies to deter and and deflate him from this course of action and hopefully get them to rethink the course of action they have embarked upon,’ Senator Paterson told Sky News’ Sunday Agenda program.
The delivery comes after several threats from Russian leader Putin that any country that intervenes in the Ukraine invasion will face ‘severe consequences’
Federal Labor’s defence spokesman Brendan O’Connor also told the program the Australian government has done the right thing in joining the condemnation and appropriate action and that includes lethal and non-lethal aid to Ukraine.
‘Our hopes of course that through such action we’ll see an end to this violence and this conflict, and until we see anything like that, we need to ratchet up the pressure,’ Mr O’Connor said.
‘If the government has any other options in so far as increased sanctions, whether it is targeting the oligarchs or is providing lethal aid through NATO, Labor supports that.’
The new weaponry follows a win for the Ukrainian Government after eight Russian aircraft were shot down in one day.
Ukrainian military sources said the loss was evidence of Russia’s failure to gain air superiority – a tactical advantage that Vladimir Putin thought would be achieved on the first day of the war.
At a press conference in Kyiv on Saturday, two captured Russian soldiers urged Russian citizens to urge Putin to stop the war.
‘Russians, do everything possible to stop this war. Neither Ukraine nor Russia needs this war. Only Putin needs this war,’ Andrey Chuvatarevsky said.
‘Try to inform the President, drive the military away from the equipment so that they don’t drive and bomb the civilian population. If you take to the streets, the President will decide to withdraw the troops. Then there will be no war.’
Fellow captured soldier Mikhail Kulikov added that the war is also affecting children.
The Ukrainian government claim they shot down eight Russian aircraft in one day – including a helicopter referred to as a ‘flying tank’
‘People of Russia, stand up. Your children are here. Children of the Ukrainian people are also suffering here. There is no need to be afraid,’ he said.
‘The Ukrainian people are not afraid of anyone. They will stand up for their land to the last. I also have two small children at home, to whom I do not know if I will get. Parents, block the roads, do not let your children go, do everything to make the Russian troops turn back.’
Eight other soldiers also spoke at the press conference at Interfax-Ukraine after they voluntarily surrendered.
At a press conference in Kyiv on Saturday, two captured Russian soldiers urged Russian citizens to urge Putin to stop the war and confirmed they were being treated well by Ukrainians
Each said they had been treated well by Ukrainians and were given the chance to contact their relatives.
Prisoner Dmitry Gagarin told relatives and friends in Russia not to listen to Russian propaganda. ‘I would like all the people of Russia to hear that here everything is not like they say on Russian television,’ he said.
‘There are no Nazis. Here are ordinary peaceful people who have rallied against one person – Putin, who wanted to be a conqueror.’
Last night Ukrainian forces maintained a hold on key cities in central and southeastern Ukraine while Russian forces are working to keep Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv and Sumy encircled, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
President Zelensky claimed yesterday that 10,000 Russian troops had died in the war, however his claim has not been independently verified. ‘We’re inflicting losses on the occupants they could not see in their worst nightmare,’ he added.
One of the captured soldiers urged Russians to remember the war’s effect on young children
Thousands of desperate civilians waited for trains to leave Kharkiv on Sunday as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues
351 civilian deaths have been confirmed since the Russian invasion began on February 24, however the UN human rights office said it believes the true number to be much higher.
At least 47 of those deaths occurred last Friday when Russian jets fired missiles into high-rise apartment buildings in Kyiv.
Western officials confirmed Russia has begun using indiscriminate aerial and artillery attacks because its military campaign is floundering.
An official told The Mail on Sunday: ‘The original plan was a rapid assault on Kyiv from the north and a sweeping up from the south using combined units and arms. But they are having to resort to pounding areas with massed artillery. The impact is likely to result in increased civilian casualties.’
Since the attack President Zelensky has been calling for the ‘complete closure of the sky for Russian missiles, aircraft and helicopters’.
351 civilian deaths have been confirmed since the Russian invasion began on February 24 as thousands of refugees continue to fight freezing conditions while heading for the Poland border
Zero-degree temperatures has left thousands of children, women, and elderly freezing and terrified as they wait to cross the border
Harrowing photos have emerged of desperate Ukrainians fleeing Kharkiv and waiting in freezing condition on the Poland border.
Photos in on the Ukrainian side of the Medyka border – the main road border between Poland and Ukraine – show the area clogged by thousands of refugees.
The ABC reports the queue of cars waiting for entry into Poland stretched for 20km and several thousand more walked to the pedestrian gate.
Zero-degree temperatures has left thousands of children, women, and elderly freezing and terrified as they wait to cross the border.
