Albanese government and opposition leader downplay prospect of sending troops to join ‘coalition of the willing’ peacekeeping force
Peter Dutton said he was “disappointed” by Donald Trump’s treatment of Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office and said he would lobby the US president to change his view on Ukraine, if the Coalition won the coming federal election.
The opposition leader praised Zelenskyy as a “modern-day hero”, and cautioned that Europe “can’t continue to rely for financial support or military support from the United States”.
The Albanese government and Dutton both downplayed the prospect of Australian troops joining a “coalition of the willing” peacekeeping mission proposed by the British prime minister Keir Starmer. Labor said it would continue sending other aid to Ukraine.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said: “We regard this as an issue of doing what is right but also what is in Australia’s national interests.
“The brave people of Ukraine led so extraordinarily by president Zelenskyy are fighting not just for their national sovereignty and their democracy, they are fighting for the international rule of law, and it is an easy choice that Australia has made.”
At a defence summit in London with Zelenskyy and other major European leaders, Starmer said Europe is “at a crossroads in history”. He confirmed the UK and France would lead a “coalition of the willing” to help end the fighting, saying Britain and other European nations were willing to put “boots on the ground and planes in the air”.
Starmer’s phrasing evoked the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, which was supported by the UK and Australia among others.
Asked at a press conference in Brisbane whether Australia should send troops to join such an international force, Dutton responded: “The short answer is no”.
“Everyone wants peace across the world, but in Europe, and we want Putin to retreat from Ukraine and to stop the attacks. President Zelenskyy is a modern-day hero, he’s a war hero and he deserves support.
Dutton said the job of senior politicians sometimes means “standing up to your friends and traditional allies because our views have diverged.”
“In relation to Ukraine, the Australian view at the moment is different to the United States,” Dutton said, “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 is in all of our collective best interest if we are able to provide support to Ukraine.”
In televised remarks on Monday, Albanese told a meeting of his cabinet that Australia had contributed $1.5bn of support, including $1.3bn of military support, to Ukraine.
Albanese did not address Starmer’s call directly in the televised remarks, but a government spokesperson later said that it remained resolute in supporting Ukraine.
“We have long called for Russia to end its illegal, immoral war. And we have long supported Ukraine’s war effort, including through the provision of equipment and training of Ukrainian forces,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“We will consider the details of any proposal, but the deployment of Australian troops to support peacekeeping forces in Ukraine is not under consideration at this time.”
In his press conference, Dutton praised Starmer’s leadership and said the current situation had made European leaders recognise the need to “step up”. He said the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, had “no regard for human life”.
“The European nations, particularly the bigger nations, can’t continue to rely for financial support or military support from the United States. They need to chip in themselves,” Dutton said.
“I think President Trump has made this clear … the US has an incredibly important role to play in the world but it can’t be everywhere at once and it’s important for Europe to step up. It seems that’s what’s happening at the moment.”
Asked about the astonishing encounter between Trump and Zelenskyy on Friday, Dutton said he was “disappointed by the scenes at the White House and I believe that president Zelenskyy requires the support of the European countries in the US and countries like Australia as well”.