Australia will not send troops to help Ukraine fight Russian invasion
Australia has made a call on if it will send military support to Ukraine as Russian troops invade the nation, Peter Dutton has announced.
Defence Minister Peter Dutton has ruled out sending Australian troops to Ukraine confirming the assistance provided is likely to be in the form of sanctions and accepting displaced persons and refugees.
As he urged Australians to flee the country if they can, or shelter in place if it was not safe to do so, Mr Dutton said direct military support was not being considered.
Despite lashing President Putin’s “bloody” invasion, Mr Dutton said Australia would not be providing air force support or boots on the ground.
“No, we’ve been very clear, we’re not sending troops to Ukraine. That’s been very clear. The European Nations and NATO itself have incredible capacity,” Mr Dutton told Radio National.
“There will be some assistance that can be provided and that will be something we talk about at the appropriate time. Obviously, we’ve been in discussion with our allies and partners about what assistance could be provided pre and post any conflicts so we’ll work through all of that.
“We have already made announcements about accommodating visa holders more quickly and putting those cases to the top of the pile and more that’s already been actioned by the Australian Border Force.”
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The war in Ukraine is set to create thousands of refugees as Ukrainian families try to flee the region to Poland and Slovakia.
Russia is invading the country in a three-pronged assault, with incursions from Russia and Belarus to the north, the east and Crimea to the south.
“It’s clear that President Putin has had this invasion in mind for some time and it should be an alarm bell – it should be a wake up call to not only Europe, but to the rest of the world, including Australia that we shouldn’t take the peace we’ve had since the Cold War for granted,’’ Mr Dutton said.
Mr Dutton said Russia’s capture of the Chernobyl nuclear plant was deeply concerning.
“We’ve been very clear for a period of time that people, Australian citizens or those close family members should leave immediately,’’ he said.
”Now there are some people, some Australian citizens, who are in some cases dual citizens or have these sort of arrangements in the Ukraine, they’re deeply embedded … there are numerous reasons, legitimate reasons, as to why they haven’t wanted to move but if people can make their way safely to a border, our advice would be to do that.
“For some people depending on where they are, it may be safe for them to stay in a bunker or stay where they are in situ because it’s obviously a very volatile environment.”
Mr Dutton also lashed China for not telling Russia to halt the invasion.
“China has essentially encouraged Russia, and China is the one country that could pick up the phone to President Putin and say, turn back and pull back from this dreadful mistake that you’re making,” he said.
“They’re not prepared to do that, which seems deeply concerning. And I think they’re probably watching to see what the world reaction is, so they can make their own calculations down the track in relation to Taiwan.
“This is the opening hours of this conflict but there will be many bloody things that we’ll see over the coming weeks and tragic stories.”
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