Marles, who also met his Polish counterpart Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz in Warsaw before crossing the border, announced last month that Australia would join the British and Latvian plan to provide thousands of drones to Ukraine, spurring the competition between Western nations to take advantage of technology. and reduce the production cost of the equipment.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles was at Gallipoli (pictured) on Anzac Day before going to Poland and Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a warning earlier this month highlighting the possibility that his country could run out of air defense missiles due to Russia's intense long-range bombing campaign. He also admitted that Ukraine does not have enough ammunition for a counter-offensive against Russia, but that it has begun to receive some for defensive purposes.
Marles' visit, the first by a member of the Australian government since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in July 2022, goes some way to addressing growing criticism of Australia's level of support for Ukraine.
While more than $880 million has been sent to Kiev, including armored vehicles such as the Bushmaster, unmanned aerial systems and artillery munitions, Australia's contribution is just 0.041% of GDP. By comparison, Denmark, which has an economy 25 percent the size of Australia, has pledged $9.3 billion in military aid, or nearly 2 percent of its GDP.
Canada, with an economy 1.25 times the size of Australia, has pledged $6.1 billion or 0.3% of its GDP.
The Labor government has also faced internal criticism over Foreign Minister Penny Wong's refusal to reopen Australia's embassy in Kiev more than two years after it closed at the start of the war . Sixty-seven of the 81 countries that temporarily closed their missions have since returned.
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Michael Fullilove, the executive director of the Lowy Institute for International Policy, wrote in Australian Financial review at the weekend that research, to be published in June, revealed that three-quarters of Australians (76 per cent) would support reopening the embassy.
It said support also remained high for providing military aid to Ukraine (74%), accepting Ukrainian refugees in Australia (80%) and maintaining tough sanctions on Russia (86%).
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