(Bloomberg) — Australia will donate 20 Bushmaster armored combat vehicles to Ukraine following a direct request from President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for the locally-made equipment to help repel the Russian invasion.
The first four vehicles, which have been refitted and repainted with the Ukrainian flag, will be dispatched from the state of Queensland to Europe on Friday, according to a statement. Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton said that his country would “answer the call” of the embattled leader.
“The idea will be to provide that support to keep people safe and to repel the Russians as quickly as possible from the Ukrainian territory,” he said in an Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio interview Friday.
The Bushmaster is well suited to provide protection to the Ukrainian armed forces soldiers and civilians against mines and improvised explosive devices, shrapnel from artillery and small arms fire, according to the statement. The blast-resistant vehicles are built to carry 10 people and can sustain themselves for up to three days.
Australia has been very vocal in its support of Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in late February, and has already sent more than A$116 million ($86.8 million) in military aid to the country.
President Zelenskiy directly requested the Bushmaster vehicles in an address to the Australian parliament on March 31, during which he said his country needed urgent support in its war against Russia.
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