Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles, during his visit to the city of Lviv, announced a military aid package for Ukraine worth $100 million.

The aid package included short-range air defences, drones along with air-to-ground precision munitions coming separately.

While speaking at a press briefing with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Marles asserted that the military aid by Australia is one of the many contributions set to be made to Ukrainian armed forces in the coming months.

“Today we are announcing the next package of support for Ukraine totalling 100 million dollars. 50 million of that is dedicated to short-range air defence systems. 30 million, as the Prime Minister said, to the purchase of drones as part of Australia being a part of the drone coalition being led by the United Kingdom and Latvia,” Marles said.

“We understand that this will be an enduring conflict and we will be contributing more in the future because we are determined to stand side by side with Ukraine for as long as it takes for Ukraine to prevail,” he told reporters.

Australia, on April 17 announced that it would increase the defence spending by A$50.3 billion ($32 billion) in the next 10 years and also make changes in its weapons program emphasizing more on missiles, drones and warships as it foresees the possibility of a Pacific conflict between China and the United States.

Meanwhile, Russia, in a bid to reinforce its offensive sent more troops to the eastern town of Ocheretyne.

However, Kyiv’s forces, which hold most part of the village, expect the arms delivery by the United States to help them win the battle, said the Ukrainian military on Saturday (Apr 27).

Russian armed forces have so far gradually progressed towards the eastern front in over half a dozen villages after seizing the bastion town of Avdiivka in the month of February.

Fighting erupted in Ocheretyne on Saturday, however, Nazar Voloshyn, spokesman for the eastern command, said that the Ukrainian forces had the situation under control and exercised control on two-thirds of the village.

Amid Russian advances, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday called for additional air defence systems to be sent to Kyiv in its fight against Moscow. 

At the start of a virtual meeting led by the United States on helping arm Ukraine, Zelensky said, “This year, Russian jets (have) already used more than 9,000 guided aerial bombs against Ukraine and we need the ability to shoot down the air combat aircraft so that they do not approach our positions and borders.” 

“While we were waiting for a decision on the American support, the Russian army managed to seize the initiative on the battlefield,” Zelensky said.

“We can still now, not only stabilize the front but also move forward achieving our Ukrainian goals in the war,” he added. 

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(With inputs from agencies)