Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne will on Tuesday evening fly to Brussels to meet with Australia’s allies and discuss Russia’s ongoing military assault against Ukraine.
Senator Payne will meet with ministerial counterparts from NATO countries and other close partner nations in the Belgian capital to co-ordinate their response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
She is expected to discuss at the meeting the co-ordination of international sanctions against Russia and Australia’s military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine through trusted partners on the ground.
“The co-ordination that this meeting will strengthen and enable is core to the global response to Russia‘s unlawful, egregious and unprovoked action,” Senator Payne told reporters on Tuesday.
Australia has backed US President Joe Biden’s call for Mr Putin to be tried as a war criminal, after shocking images were reported of mass graves and dead civilians in the streets in the town of Bucha.
The Australian government has unequivocally condemned Russia’s actions in Ukraine, which Senator Payne said amounted to a “wholesale breach” of international law and the UN charter.
Senator Payne said the emerging evidence of potential war crimes in Ukraine — including the “butchering of people in mass graves” — was appalling and should be investigated by the International Criminal Court.
“It must be investigated in the context of the war crimes issues that have been raised,” she told Sunrise on Tuesday.
“Australia stands very strongly in relation to that and we’ll work closely with our international partners to ensure that that’s the case.”
Senator Payne told reporters she would reaffirm Australia’s support for Ukraine at the NATO meeting, noting the federal government had applied sanctions to more 500 Russian oligarchs and entities amid the conflict.
In addition to these financial penalties the federal government on Tuesday banned the export of Australian luxury goods — such as handbags, lobsters and race horses — to Russia.
Senator Payne’s trip to Europe comes a week after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed Australia’s Parliament via video link where, through a translator, he pleaded for additional support.
Scott Morrison in response announced $21m in additional military assistance for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, bringing Australia’s total military assistance to the country so far to $91m.
Australia has also committed $65m in emergency humanitarian aid for people affected by the conflict in Ukraine.
More than 1400 civilian deaths have been recorded and more than 4 million people have fled Ukraine in the five weeks since Russian troops began their invasion.
Ukraine is an “aspirxjmtzywing member” of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation military alliance of 28 European nations, the United States and Canada.
