‘We’ll reopen embassy’: Birmingham makes pledge on visit to Kyiv

London: Australia’s diplomatic presence in Ukraine’s war-torn capital would be immediately restored under a Coalition government, would-be foreign minister Simon Birmingham has pledged during the first visit by a senior politician to Kyiv in more than two years.

The Liberal Senate leader arrived in Ukraine this week as the nation endured a huge missile and drone assault by Moscow following Kyiv’s incursion into Russia’s western Kursk region.

Ukrainian soldiers guard the sky with a machine-gun on a road in Kyiv during a Russian missile and drone attack.Credit: AP

Vladimir Putin’s forces are intensifying their fightback after Ukraine’s stunning cross-border assault into Russia earlier this month, with fierce combat on the ground and an aerial assault that has knocked out power and water across the country.

Australia remains an international outlier as it refuses to reopen the embassy in Kyiv more than two-and-a-half years after Russian troops invaded, as almost 70 of the 81 countries that temporarily shuttered their posts in February 2022 have now returned.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has insisted that the threat of rockets raining down on Kyiv means the city remains unsafe for diplomats, but Birmingham said the federal government’s “stubborn refusal” to overrule the department’s conservative advice and send its ambassador back had left Australia open to questions about its reliability as a partner.

Birmingham said a Dutton government would work with international partners, particularly Canada, to safely reopen Australia’s embassy in Kyiv as soon as possible. The Canadian embassy, which is in the same building as the Australian embassy, reopened in May 2022.

Ukraine’s Deputy Defence Minister for Euro Atlantic Integration Dr Oleksandr Balanutsa, opposition spokesman for foreign affairs Simon Birmingham and Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Defence Dmytro Klimenkov.

“From Ireland to Indonesia, around 70 other countries have reopened a physical presence in Kyiv, demonstrating support for Ukraine and ensuring they receive the best possible intelligence and information,” he said.

“Australian governments have managed to keep our officials safe in dangerous conflicts before, such as Baghdad and Kabul. It shouldn’t be beyond our system to work with all of the international partners who’ve already led the way to create the safest possible environment for our diplomats to be able to do their job effectively.”

Birmingham is the first senior Australian figure to visit Kyiv since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s brief trip to the capital in July 2022, just weeks after forming government. Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles visited the west Ukrainian city of Lviv in April this year to announce further defence funding.

This is also the first visit to Ukraine by an Australian foreign minister or shadow since Julie Bishop in 2014, following the MH17 disaster. Penny Wong is one of the few foreign ministers from G20 nations who have not travelled to Kyiv since the war started.

While in Kyiv, Birmingham met Ukrainian government deputy ministers for foreign affairs, defence and industry, members of the Ukrainian parliament, and visited sites supported by humanitarian work by world-leading NGO World Vision.

Birmingham said it was clear that reopening Australia’s embassy would send a strong and positive message of support for Ukraine while removing an obvious irritant in the relationship. Both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Denys Shmyhal have publicly wished for Australia to return.

“Autocrats and aggressors will judge whether countries like ours have the resolve to maintain our support for Ukraine, and make decisions about their next steps accordingly,” Birmingham said. “It’s firmly in Australia’s interests to see Ukraine succeed and create a deterrent to others.”

DFAT deputy secretary Rod Brazier, who oversees European matters, told a Senate inquiry into Australia’s support for Ukraine last month that the status of the embassy was under constant review, but “very significant burdens and liabilities” were placed on the head of the department, Jan Adams, to ensure workplace health and safety for diplomats.

Australia’s Ambassador to Ukraine, Paul Lehmann, has travelled into the country on a handful of occasions from his full-time base in the Polish capital Warsaw.

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