Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will discuss the possibility of sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine with other world leaders tomorrow.
Albanese will be joined by the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, and New Zealand on a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The call was arranged by U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who also spoke to Albanese about a potential peacekeeping force on 8 March. Starmer “welcomed Prime Minister Albanese’s commitment to consider contributing to a Coalition of the Willing for Ukraine,” Starmer's office said.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton criticised Albanese’s participation in the call, saying Albanese was “out of his depth when it comes to national security”.
“Australia has of course stood with Ukraine since the beginning of this process,” Albanese said in response. “It did have a bipartisan position. It appears that Mr Dutton has walked away from that.”
Russia's embassy in Australia warned Australia against sending peacekeeping troops this week, saying "For Australia joining the so-called coalition of the willing would entail grave consequences.” The embassy said Russia does not intend to harm Australians.
On Tuesday, 34 military representatives from European Union and NATO nations, as well as Australia and Japan, convened in Paris to consider options for Ukraine’s security in a future ceasefire. U.S. delegates were not asked to attend.
United States officials met with a Ukrainian delegation in Saudi Arabia this week to discuss ending Russia’s invasion. Ukraine said it would accept a potential immediate 30-day ceasefire.
Steve Witkoff, the U.S.’ Special Envoy to the Middle East, arrived in Russia today to propose this ceasefire deal to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “The idea in itself is the right one, and we certainly support it, but there are issues that we need to discuss,” said Putin.
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