‘Stick with us’: Ukraine envoy’s plea to Australia as Donald Trump shifts away from supporting Kyiv

The plea comes as Tony Abbott warns Europe must come to terms with the fact its failure to unite against Russia has partly led to US President Donald Trump’s antipathy towards Kyiv.

Ukrainian Ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko at the Ukraine Embassy in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia has called on Canberra to stick with the Eastern European country three years on from Russia’s illegal invasion, as Anthony Albanese says he will work with Kyiv to ensure a just and lasting peace.

As the Ukrainian embassy on Monday prepares to mark the third anniversary of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against his former Soviet neighbour, ambassador Vasyl Myroshnychenko said Australia’s support for the war effort was helping to keep Ukraine and the world safe from Moscow. “This war isn’t about some distant territory or fancy narratives,” he said. “At its core, it’s about protecting a way of life that Australians also share – democratic, peaceful, and prosperous – from dictatorship and destruction of the global rules.

“Putin wants mafia rule of the world to prevail; the world needs to make the mafioso fail.

“On the third year since the full-scale invasion started, my message to Australia is: thank you for standing up for what we share and what we aspire to. Please continue to stand with us against those who would rip our future apart.”

The Prime Minister has made the preservation of Ukrainian sovereignty a litmus test for the inter­national rule of law after Donald Trump shocked European allies by launching an extraordinary ­attack on Volodymyr Zelensky as a “dictator without elections” who had done a “terrible job”.

Tony Abbott. Picture by Andrew Parsons / Parsons Media

In a statement to mark the third anniversary of the war, Mr Albanese, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the government would continue to support Ukraine.

“Once again, Australia calls on Russia to immediately end its war and adhere fully to its obligations under international law, including in relation to the protection of civilians and treatment of prisoners of war,” the statement said. “Working with Ukraine and our partners, Australia supports a just and lasting peace for Ukraine.”

Former prime minister Tony Abbott – who last week said the US’s potential abandonment of Ukraine would have sweeping consequences – said on the weekend that European leaders needed to step up if Mr Trump were to be swayed back to supporting Ukraine.

“What’s now happening with Ukraine is a consequence of America’s European allies’ long-term neglect of their military strength and shameless free-riding on an America that they’re much happier to lecture than to help,” Mr Abbott told the Danube Institute in London.

“Trump’s agitated posts that President Zelensky ‘started the war’, is a ‘dictator’, and is only continuing the war to keep on the American ‘gravy train’ do not reflect reality – but they do reflect Trump’s understandable frustration with allies that are … more of an encumbrance than a force multiplier. It’s possible that, far from surrendering the responsibilities that go with strength, the Trump Ukraine ploy might turn out to be a clever piece of political theatre, finally forcing European leaders to level with their voters about the need to do more for their own security.”