Anthony Albanese holds talks with British PM about Australia’s role in Ukraine
Anthony Albanese and the British PM have held talks about the prospect of Australia joining the “Coalition of the Willing” in Ukraine.
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Anthony Albanese has held fresh talks with the British Prime Minister about Australia joining a peacekeeping force in the event of a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war.
In defiance of US President Donald Trump’s public dressing down of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for being “disrespectful” to the US, the British Prime Minister is leading talks to support Ukrainians and prepare a peacekeeping force.
But it’s set up a clash with Peter Dutton who has warned the Liberal Party won’t support Australia sending troops to the peacekeeping force in Europe.
The clash between Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky was followed this week by President Trump pausing all US military aid and intelligence-sharing with Kyiv before Russia conducted a large-scale missile and drone attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
“I think he’s hitting them [Ukraine] harder than he’s been hitting them,” Mr Trump said. “And I think probably anyone in that position would be doing that right now.”
What is the Coalition of the Willing?
Britain and France have been leading efforts to form the so-called “coalition of the willing”.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer “spoke to the Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese this morning,” the UK leader’s office said on Saturday.
“He welcomed Prime Minister Albanese’s commitment to consider contributing to a Coalition of the Willing for Ukraine and looked forward to the Chiefs of Defence meeting in Paris on Tuesday.”
Asked about the discussions in Canberra on Sunday, the Prime Minister said he had a “very constructive discussion with the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, last night.”
“We did discuss the issue of Ukraine and the coalition of the willing, as he has put it, going forward,’’ Mr Albanese said.
“There will be a meeting of chiefs of Defence in Paris on Tuesday. Australia will send a senior representative to that meeting to discuss, going forward, both of our nations are very clear about our support for Ukraine and it of course is too early — you can’t have peacekeeping forces without having peace.”
Mr Albanese said it was “too early” to say exactly what from that contribution would be.
“But I certainly have said, very clearly, publicly, repeatedly, that we would give consideration to participating in any peacekeeping mission in the Ukraine,” he said.
“And on Tuesday, Australia will participate in this meeting of chiefs of Defence Forces or their representatives.”
“There is no mission at this point in time. You can’t have a peacekeeping mission without having peace. We discussed a range of issues, some of which in the nature of things with diplomacy and one that I always respect will remain as discussions between us.”
The Prime Minister flagged the prospect of Australia sending peace-keeping troops to Ukraine this week, declaring he was “open” to considering any requests for help.
“Well, our position on Ukraine is very clear. We stand with the people of Ukraine and we stand with President Zelenskyy,’’ he said.
“And the brave struggle of the people of Ukraine to defend their natural sovereignty, but also what they’ve fighting for is the international rule of law.
“Now Australia stands ready to assist. We have contributed $1.5 billion with $1.3 billion for military assistance directly.
“There’s discussion at the moment about potential peacekeeping. And from my government’s perspective, we’re open to consideration of any proposals going forward, as Australia has historically played an important role in areas including in Africa, in Cyprus, in a range of peacekeeping areas.
“We want to see peace in Ukraine. But we want to make sure the illegal, immoral actions of Russia are not rewarded, and that Vladimir Putin and his designs that are imperialistic are not rewarded or encouraged.”
In the most forward-leaning statements today on the possibility of a peacekeeping role, Mr Albanese stressed no final decisions had been made.
“We haven’t been asked for anything, there’s proposals discussed,’’ he said.
“If a request is made, we would give consideration to it. With regard to the US, the US is an important ally of Australia. It’s an alliance between our nations. With regard to Australia’s foreign policy, Australia determines our foreign policy. It’s in Australia’s national interest to stand with Ukraine and that’s what our government is doing.”
Blue beret UN peacekeeping force
Government sources say if Australia does contribute to a peacekeeping force they would go in the “blue beret” of the UN peacekeeping force.
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer has proposed the deployment of around 30,000 European peacekeeping troops in Ukraine.
Overnight, Mr Starmer told the British Parliament that a “coalition of the willing” could provide boots on the ground in Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire.
“The UK is prepared to back this with boots on the ground and planes in the air, together with others. Europe must do the heavy lifting,’’ he said.
The Coalition of the Willing phrase was a central theme of Sir Keir Starmer’s speech after European leaders gathered in London for crucial talks about Ukraine’s future.
Led by the UK and France, the initiative could see troops from a number of European and NATO countries deployed to Ukraine as peacekeepers in order to deter Vladimir Putin from rearming and attacking again in the future.
Duttton won’t support boots on the ground
In reaction to Mr Albanese’s comments, Mr Dutton said he did not support putting Australian troops on the ground despite being “honest and upfront in our support and very proud of our support of Ukraine from day one.”
That’s a serious barrier to sending Australian troops as part of a peacekeeping force on the eve of an election, considering the government could be entering caretaker mode within days.
“We should continue to provide support to Ukraine. We have been involved in training and providing support to Ukraine soldiers and I think that should continue,’’ Mr Dutton said.
“In terms of if we should have boots on the ground, in Ukraine, I don’t see that. I think the Europeans have that task but what Donald Trump pointed out is the Europeans need to do more in the defence of Europe and that is a statement of the obvious.
“The Americans have a focus on other theatres and areas of engagement and that is appropriate and I think the fact that NATO countries are spending more or are committing to spending more in their defence budget is a good thing and I commend Keir Starmer for his leadership.”
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