Australia to send Ukraine more tanks but no peacekeeping troops

Australia will step up the supply of Abrams tanks to Ukraine as European leaders make a new push for a ceasefire after three years of war despite a dramatic warning from United States President Donald Trump about scaling back military support.

The Australian support will not come with peacekeepers to patrol Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire with Russia, amid talks in Europe about assembling a force to help secure the country’s borders.

The bipartisan support for Ukraine came at the same time as a growing dispute over Australian defence spending. The Coalition promises to spend $3 billion on new F-35A fighter jets, but Labor estimates the aircraft would cost at least $11.5 billion.

An Australian Army M1A1 Abrams tank.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton publicly backed Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in public remarks on Monday, signalling bipartisan support for Ukraine despite the angry message from Trump.

The federal government is behind schedule in its plan to send the Abrams tanks to Ukraine after promising 49 last October, but it is confident of overcoming the problems and shipping the military aid to the country.

Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said there were “technology restrictions” in sending the tanks but said this would not stop them being deployed.

Australia has committed $1.5 billion to Ukraine since Russia staged its full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022, with almost all the funds going toward military assistance. The Abrams tanks were valued at $245 million.

Albanese said the decision to back Ukraine was an “easy choice” given the attack on its sovereignty.

“We regard this as an issue of doing what’s right, but also what is in Australia’s national interest,” he told a federal cabinet meeting on Monday, in televised opening remarks.

“The brave people of Ukraine, led so extraordinarily by President Zelensky, are fighting not just for their national sovereignty and for their democracy. They are fighting for the international rule of law. And it is an easy choice that Australia has made.”

The bipartisan Australian support comes after Trump berated Zelensky in the White House during an explosive meeting that was televised live last Friday, US time.

“The problem is I’ve empowered you to be a tough guy and I don’t think you’d be a tough guy without the United States,” Trump told Zelensky.

“Your people are very brave. But you’re either going to make a deal or we’re out. And if we’re out, you’ll fight it out. I don’t think it’s going to be pretty. But you’ll fight it out. You don’t have the cards.”

In his first public response to those remarks, Dutton strongly backed Ukraine and praised Zelensky as a “modern-day hero” who deserved support.

“I was disappointed by the scenes out of the White House, and I believe that President Zelensky requires the support of European countries, of the United States, and countries like Australia,” he said.

“The Australian view at the moment is different to the United States, and my job as prime minister will be to lobby the president of the United States to reconsider his position in relation to Ukraine, because I think it’s in all of our collective best interests if we’re able to provide support to Ukraine, and that’s something I’m dedicated to.”

Dutton said the events highlighted the need for Europe to spend more on defence.

“The European nations, particularly the bigger nations, can’t continue to rely for financial support or military support from the United States,” he said. “They need to chip in themselves. I think President Trump’s made this clear.”

Dutton announced on Sunday that a Coalition government would spend $3 billion to set up a new squadron of F-35A Lightning II jets, including 28 new aircraft.

Labor said the jets would cost far more than this to buy and maintain given that a similar commitment by Romania last September, to buy 33 of the same jets, was estimated to cost $11.5 billion.

Conroy said the Coalition should also account for the cost of building more hangars, training more pilots and hiring more ground crew to support the additional squadron.

Australia has 72 F-35 fighters as well as 24 Super Hornets and 12 “Growler” jets for electronic warfare. The government chose last year not to expand the F-35 fleet and decided to fund more missiles instead, including anti-ship missiles to be manufactured at a new factory in Australia.

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