“This is an attack not just on Ukraine and your people, but it is an attack on all countries that rely on international rules for peace, stability and prosperity,” Wong said.
She said the West was deeply concerned about what North Korea was getting in return for its assistance and whether Russia would be aiding North Korea in its illegal nuclear industry, which would destabilise and be dangerous for much of the world.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong (centre) outside the Australian Embassy in Kyiv, with Australia’s ambassador Paul Lehmann and Ukraine’s ambassador Vasyl Myroshnychenko. Credit: Pool / Mazoe Ford (ABC)
“So Australia stands with Ukraine … This country and its people have demonstrated extraordinary courage, and we often talk about the importance of freedom. Well, the Ukrainian people fight for their freedom every day.”
The Albanese government and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have been fiercely criticised for their reluctance not to return diplomats to Kyiv, who have instead been based in Warsaw. Nearly 70 countries that left in the days before the invasion had returned within months.
President Volodymyr Zelensky had publicly encouraged Australians to return, while other senior Ukrainians had expressed frustration with the government’s reluctance to do so.
The federal Coalition had made it an election pledge to return as soon as it could, while several Labor MPs were members of a parliamentary committee that was earlier this year critical of the slow pace of return. Canada, which has an embassy in the same Kyiv building as Australia’s, sent its staff back in May 2022, just three months into the war.
Loading
Wong, who met with Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha, and Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko during her visit, said the government had always said it would “reopen our embassy in Kyiv when it is safe to do so”.
She said not being a NATO ally had hampered a return, but did not expand on why it was now safer for Australia to be back while other non-NATO countries, such as Indonesia, had long returned.
Sybiha said the Ukrainian government deeply appreciated the embassy reopening which would allow for more direct communication.
“It’s a show of solidarity with Ukraine,” he said. “Australian people understand the hardships suffered by the Ukrianian people, and we welcome deeper bilateral relations,” he said.
Wong also met families at Save Ukraine – a community organisation supporting vulnerable Ukrainian families and children damaged by the conflict – where she pledged $80,000 to help their work.
Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.
https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.1765%2C$multiply_0.7554%2C$ratio_1.776846%2C$width_1059%2C$x_0%2C$y_70/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/t_smh_no_label_no_age_social_wm/3c9ba0e76370f2aa00f857ec85d12e1aef16054b
2024-12-18 09:34:47
