PMB – Russian invasion of Ukraine
Federation Chamber – 1.10pm Mon 6 March 2023
5mins
Deputy Speaker,
24 February marked one year since Russia launched its illegal and immoral full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The war raging as we speak is an unlawful attack against Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
It has now resulted, according to U.S. estimates, in 200,000 dead and injured Russian and Ukrainian military personnel.
At least 40,000 civilians have likely died in the conflict.
140,000 buildings are destroyed, costing USD $350 billion.
14 million Ukrainians fled the country when war broke out.
And 7 million are internally displaced, mostly women.
Deputy Speaker, the Russian invasion is not a limited war bound by the laws of armed conflict and the UN Charter.
The images of civilian bodies lying in the streets of Bucha with their arms tied, shot after being tortured, clear war crimes, are too fresh in our minds for us to fall for that.
Russia is pursuing a total war that aims at nothing less than the destruction of the national, cultural, religious, and democratic institutions of the Ukrainian people.
The initial Russian war aim was not—as Moscow’s propaganda machine parroted to its population—a clinical intervention to de-Nazify a country led by a Jewish leader.
The goal was regime change.
The initial Russian war plan was to storm Kyiv, kill President Zelensky, and install a puppet regime.
And this plan only failed because it met with the irresistible force not only of the heroic and effective resistance of the Ukrainian armed forces, which stunned the world.
Russia’s plan also failed because it met with the awe-inspiring reaction of a genuinely people’s war.
Within days, Ukrainian society mobilised en masse.
Many young and old Ukrainians joined the armed forces and territorial defence units by the thousands not simply because they had to, but because they wanted to.
Compare that to the 700,000 young people who fled the country during mass mobilisation in Russia.
Countless Ukrainian civilians also joined the war effort by flying reconnaissance drones, raising funds, and even, in the case of Ukrainian farmers, literally towing away enemy tanks.
The Russians greatly underestimated the Ukrainian people.
They also dramatically underestimated the sympathy this resistance would kindle for Ukraine around the world.
The Kiel Institute for the World Economy estimates that 46 countries gave the equivalent of AUD $168 billion in financial, humanitarian, and military aid from the start of the war.
That’s immense when you consider that Ukraine’s GDP was AUD $290 billion in 2021.
The U.S. alone provided nearly US$50 billion in aid to Ukraine, half of that in cutting-edge military equipment.
Australia has now provided Ukraine with a total of $655 million in support.
This includes $475 million in military assistance to Ukraine, $65 million in humanitarian assistance, and duty-free access for Ukrainian imports to Australia.
I am proud to be part of a Government that announced additional military assistance to Ukraine and further costs on Russia, including additional sanctions.
And I’m so proud of the Territorians in the 1st Brigade who stepped up by training Ukrainian forces on their deployment to the United Kingdom as part of Operation Kudu.
On 24 February, the first rotation of around 200 Ukrainian recruits graduated from military training in the UK.
I also wish to acknowledge local advocates in Darwin, including Northern Territory Ukrainian Society president Tatiana Hoffman, for their leadership on this issue.
With Tatiana and supporters we gathered in front of the NT Parliament to mark a year of the war.
And last week in Melbourne I caught up with the Ambassador Vasyl (Myroshnychenko) and reiterated our solidarity with Ukraine.
Slava Ukraini.
