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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has reaffirmed his support for Ukraine, despite a widening disagreement between the Eastern European country and American leadership.
PM Albanese made the comments following the recent fallout of a televised heated argument between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, US President Donald Trump and US Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office.
Zelensky had traveled to Washington to sign a minerals deal as the US administration pushes for a swift conclusion to hostilities between Ukraine and Russia.
Prime Minister Albanese, speaking at a doorstop interview in Sydney on March 2, confirmed that Ukraine has the continued support of Australia.
"We have unequivocal and unconditional support for the brave struggle of the people of Ukraine. Ukraine is defending its national sovereignty, but it's also defending the international Rule of Law, and that is why Australia has a national interest in providing support," he said.
"We've already provided $1.5 billion of support, of which $1.3 billion has been military and defence support.
"We examine support on an ongoing basis. I must have made at least half a dozen announcements, as Prime Minister, of support based upon requests from the Ukrainian Government of President Zelenskyy."
The UK Ministry of Defence has also recently announced it will supply more than 5000 air defence missiles to Ukraine.
That deal is expected to treble production of Lightweight Multirole Missiles at Thales factory in Belfast, UK. As well as creating 200 jobs in Northern Ireland and directly support 700 existing jobs.
"The deal marks a historic step for industrial relations between the UK and Ukraine, building on the 100 Year Partnership signed recently by the Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Zelenskyy in Kyiv," according to the UK Ministry of Defence.
In addition, on February 25 the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has set out his commitment to increase spending on defence to 2.5 percent of GDP from April 2027.
"It is my first duty as Prime Minister to keep our country safe. In an ever more dangerous world, increasing the resilience of our country so we can protect the British people, resist future shocks and bolster British interests, is vital," he said.
"In my Plan for Change, I pledged to improve the lives of people in every corner of the UK, by growing the economy. By spending more on defence, we will deliver the stability that underpins economic growth, and will unlock prosperity through new jobs, skills and opportunity across the country.
"As we enter this new era for national security, Britain will once again lead the way."
The increase in defence spending will reportedly be funded by reducing Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) from 0.5% to 0.3% of GNI and reinvesting it into defence.
