PM blasts Putin as Australians begin training Ukraine’s citizen army amid growing China threat

PM Anthony Albanese has fired a shot at Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine, after China issued a new warning to AUKUS.

The Prime Minister says Vladimir Putin is “completely deluded” to compare his invasion of Ukraine with Russia’s defence against Nazi Germany in World War II.

Vladimir Putin made the comments in a speech celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory over the Nazis at Stalingrad, now known as Volgograd, in World War Two to take a jab at Germany.

Anthony Albanese says Putin’s invasion of the sovereign nation of Ukraine a year ago was illegal and premeditated.

“There are all sorts of excuses he will come up, but the regime in the region that doesn’t support democracy and supports authoritarianism is his own,” said Mr Albanese told Sky News on Friday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with state and territory leaders in Canberra on Friday morning. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

“If he wants to look for authoritarianism, then he should look in the mirror. And that's why Australia stands with Ukraine.”

Putin made the speech this week, continuing his frequent characterisation of Ukraine as a hotbed of neo-Nazi beliefs, although Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is of Jewish descent.

“The ideology of Nazism in its modern form and manifestation again directly threatens the security of our country,” said Mr Putin.

“Again and again we have to repel the aggression of the collective West.

“It‘s incredible but it’s a fact: we are again being threatened with German Leopard tanks with crosses on them.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with members of public patriotic and youth organisations at the Battle of Stalingrad Museum and Panorama in Volgograd. Picture: AFP

It comes after Defence Minister Richard Marles committed to supporting Ukraine “for as long as it takes” even as China warned the AUKUS partnership was leading to a nuclear arms race and war on Australia’s doorstep.

Speaking after meeting Australian troops training Ukraine’s “citizen army” as part of Operation Kudu, Mr Marles said there was a question of how much support to give Ukraine in Europe before affecting the capability to defend the Indo-Pacific.

“In the general sense, we will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes and we understand that this is going to be a protracted conflict,” he said.

It comes as Chines Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning warned the military co-operation between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States was provoking a war in the Indo-Pacific.

A member of the Australian Armed Forces talks with a Ukrainian soldier. Picture: AFP

Members of the Australian Armed Forces and Ukrainian soldier train together during a visit by Richard Marles and Penny Wong. Picture: AFP

“Despite being called a ‘trilateral security partnership’, AUKUS is essentially about fuelling military confrontation through military collaboration. It is apparently driven by Cold War thinking,” she said in response to the potential expansion of AUKUS to include India and Japan.

Asked about Foreign Minister Penny Wong warning any conflict in the Indo-Pacific would be “catastrophic”, Ms Ning fired back against Australia’s development of nuclear submarines as a threat to regional peace and stability.

Ms Wong, who on Wednesday told the UK it must confront its colonial past if it is to avoid war with China, on Thursday backed Australia’s focus on the “illegal and immoral war being waged by Mr Putin”.

As part of Operation Kudu, 70 Australian personnel fly out from Robertson Barracks in the Northern Territory to join Operation Interflex, the UK-led multinational training mission for Ukrainian soldiers.

The visit to the Ukraine training grounds on the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, in southern England, comes days after Mr Marles and Ms Wong announced Australia would join France in producing several thousand 155mm artillery shells for use in Ukraine.

Mr Marles said the training Australians are providing enables Ukraine to stay in the fight “for as long as possible so they are able to resolve this conflict on Ukraine’s terms”.

“It’s really important to understand that this is a citizen army that is in place now in Ukraine,” he said.

“It is brutal. And those who are being trained here now, in the very near future, are going to find themselves in a very dangerous and brutal environment,” he continued.

{In speaking to [Australian troops], what’s really clear, is the sense of moment that they have about what they’re doing about the seriousness of this and the difference they’re making.”

Ukrainian soldiers take part in a training by Australian and British troops. Picture: AFP

Ukrainian soldiers take part in a training by Australian and British troops. Picture: AFP

Ukrainian soldiers take part in a training by Australian and British troops. Picture: AFP

Ms Wong said the fight in Ukraine was about “protecting the rules that have protected” Australia for decades.

“To be here and to speak with those brave Ukrainians who have come here in order to learn better how to defend their country is profoundly humbling,” she said.

Despite Wong’s appeal to “find more common ground” with other countries through sharing the “uncomfortable” history of Britain’s colonial past, China’s foreign minister, Ms Ning, said the Asia-Pacific was “not a chessboard for geopolitical contests”.

“We are seriously concerned about and opposed to AUKUS,” Ms Ning said.

“With regard to Australia’s development of nuclear submarines, we oppose anything that undermines the international nuclear non-proliferation regime. We think it’s important to guard against the risk of nuclear proliferation and avoid stoking arms race in the Asia-Pacific.

“We urge the US, the UK and Australia to abandon their Cold War and zero-sum mindset, honour their international obligations, and act in the interest of regional peace and stability.”

Australia and the UK are transforming our longstanding partnership, through AUKUS, our Free Trade Agreement and the shared priority we place on climate action.

Wonderful to meet UK Prime Minister @RishiSunak@JamesCleverly@BWallaceMP with @RichardMarlesMP ahead of #AUKMINpic.twitter.com/0VHATEJs9D

— Senator Penny Wong (@SenatorWong) February 1, 2023

Great to see my friend @BWallaceMP again this morning.

We have much to discuss at the start of a busy 2023. pic.twitter.com/lMak5ZlpwE

— Richard Marles (@RichardMarlesMP) February 1, 2023