The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense of Australia, Richard Marles, has announced another $100 million package of military assistance to Ukraine.
“Australia will stay with Ukraine for as long as it takes for Ukraine to win this war. To this end, we are today announcing another $100 million package of assistance to Ukraine. $50 million of this amount will be spent on short-range air defense systems, another $30 million will be spent on the purchase of drones, as Australia is part of the Drone Coalition with the UK and Latvia. The remainder will be used to purchase support equipment, from inflatable boats to helmets and boots,” Marles said at a joint briefing with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in Lviv on Saturday.
He added that Australia was also able to provide Ukraine with air-to-ground munitions.
Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Defense of Australia Richard Marles announced another package of military aid to Ukraine from Australia in 100 million dollars.
“Australia will stay with Ukraine for as long as it takes for Ukraine to win this war. To that end, we are today announcing the next $100 million dollar aid package to Ukraine. 50 million of this will be for short-range air defense systems. Another 30 million will be for drones, as Australia is part of a drone coalition with the UK and Latvia. The remainder of the amount will be used to purchase support equipment, from inflatable boats to helmets and boots,” Marles told a joint briefing with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal in Lviv on Saturday.
He also added that Australia had been able to provide Ukraine with air-to-ground munitions.
“We understand that this conflict will be very long and we will provide more in the future because we are determined to stand with Ukraine for as long as necessary,” the minister stressed.
As Shmygal wrote in Telegram, in total, Australia’s support for Ukraine already amounts to more than $655 million, of which $540 million is specifically military aid.
“We very much appreciate such solidarity of the Australian people with Ukraine. Thank you Mr. Richard Marles for deep involvement in Ukrainian affairs, for effective solidarity, for the concrete things that Australia is doing for Ukraine,” wrote Shmygal.
The Australian government is allocating $AU 50 million ($32.4 million) for military assistance to Ukraine, the money will be transferred to the International Fund and used to purchase military equipment for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Australia Vasyl Miroshnychenko said.
“There is good news from Australia. The Australian government is transferring 50 million Australian dollars (32.4 million US dollars) as military aid to Ukraine. The funds will be transferred to the International Fund for Ukraine (UK) for the further purchase of weapons and equipment for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Miroshnichenko wrote on his Facebook page on Thursday.
According to a report published on the Australian government’s website, Australia’s total support for Ukraine will amount to about $960 million, including $780 million to help the Armed Forces.
“Australia remains committed to supporting Ukraine and the Ukrainians who defend their people, their territory and their sovereignty. The contribution announced today will bring Australia’s total support to Ukraine to approximately $960 million, including $780 million in assistance to the Ukrainian armed forces,” the press release said.
The Australian government has allocated $AU 20 million for a military aid package for Ukraine, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said during his visit to Washington, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Australia Vasyl Miroshnychenko said on his Facebook page on Wednesday.
“20 million Australian dollars (USD 12.7 million – IF-U) will be used to purchase new products from the Australian military-industrial complex, including anti-submarine weapons (Droneshield), mine-clearing equipment (Minelab), mobile X-ray machines (Micro-X) and industrial 3D printers (SPEE3D),” he wrote.
The ambassador also announced that the Royal Australian Air Force E-7A Wedgetail reconnaissance aircraft has arrived at the Ramstein base and will begin its work in the airspace of Eastern Europe.
Vasyl Miroshnychenko thanked Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Defense Minister Richard Marles and Minister of Defense Pat Conroy for their support of Ukraine.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced another package of military support to Ukraine worth 110 million Australian dollars (about $74 million), local media reported.
The new package will include 70 pieces of equipment, including 28 M113 armored vehicles, 14 special-purpose vehicles, 28 MAN 40M medium trucks and 14 trailers.
Kiev will also receive a significant supply of 105mm artillery shells.
In addition, Canberra will provide 10 million Australian dollars to the United Nations to meet Ukraine’s humanitarian needs.
The prime minister stressed that Australia would support Ukraine for as long as necessary.
Traders are awaiting the release of data from the U.S. Labor Department on the country’s consumer price movements last month, which are considered key to the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) decision on the future direction of monetary policy.
“All markets are clearly focused on the extremely important U.S. inflation data,” notes SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes, quoted by Market Watch. – Traders are trying to figure out whether the Fed will change course after this data and what the implications for the U.S. economy will be.”
Experts polled by Trading Economics on average expect U.S. inflation in March slowed to 5.2% on an annualized basis from 6% in February.
Higher-than-expected inflation would raise the likelihood of another Fed rate hike by at least another 25 basis points. The U.S. central bank rate hike has already slowed inflation, but it is also holding back the economy. A further rate hike would increase the threat of recession, which would have a negative impact on stock markets, notes Market Watch.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index gained 0.6% in trading.
SoftBank Group shares gained 1.4 percent, Nippon Yusen rose 2.4 percent, Mitsubishi Corp. – by 2.3%, Nippon Steel by 1.8% and Nintendo by 1%.
Bank of Japan data released Wednesday showed the country’s producer price growth slowed to an annualized 7.2% in March from February’s 8.3%. The rate of increase in producer prices last month was the slowest since September 2021.
China’s Shanghai Composite stock index added 0.3 percent in trading, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.8 percent.
The leaders in mainland China are commodities stocks – Petrochina Co. (SPB: 857) gained 3.4 percent, China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) gained 1.7 percent and Zijin Mining Group Co. – by 0.7%.
Shares of technology giants are becoming cheaper in Hong Kong. Alibaba Group Holding (SPB: BABA) was down 2.4%. On Tuesday, the company unveiled its own artificial intelligence model, a ChatGPT counterpart that works with Chinese and English. The model will be integrated into all business applications in Alibaba’s ecosystem in the near future, the company said.
According to Bloomberg, Chinese authorities are planning to introduce the requirement of safety checks of technologies similar to the popular chatbot ChatGPT.
Shares of Tencent (SPB: 700) Holdings Ltd. fell 4.4% in trading and JD.Com Inc. (SPB: JD) fell 3.4%.
South Korea’s KOSPI stock index is stable in the course of trading, the Australian S&P/ASX 200 added 0.4%.
BHP Group shares rose 2.1%, Rio Tinto – 2.5%, Fortescue Metals – 1.5%.
