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The Australian government has confirmed $189.6 million in funding assistance over two years for Ukraine in the 2023 federal budget released on 9 May.
The assistance includes Bushmaster protected mobility vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles, infantry training of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and 155-millimetre artillery ammunition under a French-Australian joint initiative, over the 2022–23 period.
The cost of the assistance is met within the existing resources of the Department of Defence and has already been provided for by the government.
The Australian Defence Force personnel training the Armed Forces of Ukraine under Operation Kudu in the UK was listed in the 2023 federal budget under a $37.4 million allocation for multiple international deployments in 2022–23.
In addition, over the next four years, the federal government will invest more than $19 billion to implement the immediate priorities identified by the Defence Strategic Review.
Defence spending as a proportion of GDP will lift 0.2 per cent higher by 2032–33, according to the 2023 federal budget.
The budget confirmation coincides with the announcement of additional security assistance for Ukraine by the US Department of Defense also on 9 May.
The Biden administration unveiled an additional $1.2 billion to bolster Ukraine’s air defence and artillery ammunition needs under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.
That package includes additional air defence systems, munitions, 155mm artillery rounds, ammunition for counter-unmanned aerial systems, commercial satellite imagery services and integration for Western air defence launchers, missiles, and radars.
In total, the United States has committed more than $37.6 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden administration.
To learn more about how this year's federal budget will impact Australia’s national security posture, hear directly from the nation’s key decision makers on the Defence Connect Budget Lunch livestream HERE.
Robert Dougherty
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