Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said Australia will send around $70 million to fund military equipment, including ammunition and missiles, and other support to Ukraine to help its fight against Russia, reported nine news.
The government is also putting around $35 million toward humanitarian support to help international organizations responding to Ukrainians fleeing the country and seeking asylum in neighboring regions.
Mr Morrison announced on Sunday that Australia would help provide “lethal aid” to Ukraine by contributing funds to NATO to bolster weapons shipments into the country.
Today’s announcement put a dollar figure on exactly how much Australia would pitch in.
“The overwhelming majority of that [$70 million] will be in the lethal category,” Mr Morrison said.
“We are talking missiles, ammunition, we are talking supporting them in their defense of their own homeland in Ukraine.”
But the Prime Minister said he would not go into any more specifics on the new support because:
“I don’t plan on giving the Russian government a heads up about what is coming their way, but I can assure them, it is coming your way.”
Mr Morrison said the government was receiving around 100 visa applications from those in Ukraine a day, which were still being processed as a “top priority”.
People wanting to come to Australia from Ukraine have been urged to apply for various visas on offer, instead of just the ones available to refugees.
“They’re visa applications across the entire migration program so they offer temporary visas on skills, education visas, family reunion visas,” he said.
“For some of those on temporary visas, their attention will be different, they want to come to Australia for a period of time and I have no doubt they will want to return to their home country.”
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