Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has pledged AUD70 million (USD50 million) to support the procurement of military equipment for Ukraine.
He said in a press conference on 1 March that most of the funding will be directed at the acquisition of “lethal” equipment for the Eastern European country.
“We will be committing USD50 million to support both lethal and non-lethal defensive support for Ukraine,” said Morrison.
“The overwhelming majority of that … will be in the lethal category,” he said. “We're talking missiles, we're talking ammunition, we're talking supporting them in their defence of their own homeland in Ukraine and we'll be doing that in partnership with NATO.”
Morrison said specifics of the procurement plan will not be disclosed by the government “because I don't plan to give the Russian government a heads-up about what's coming their way, but I can assure them ‘it's coming your way'”.
Morrison also pledged USD25 million in humanitarian support for Ukraine. He added, “This will be our opening contribution.”
On 28 February the Australian government also pledged to provide USD3 million to a NATO trust to support Ukraine's acquisition of non-lethal military equipment and medical supplies.
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