Alexey Pavlovsky drew attention to the fact that the cost of military assistance from the Australian side to Ukraine exceeded $ 400 million
MOSCOW, June 29. /tass/. Russian Ambassador to Australia Alexey Pavlovsky did not rule out the delivery of decommissioned F-18 Hornet fighters of the Australian Air Force to Ukraine.
"This topic (delivery of F-18 Hornet fighters to Ukraine - approx. TASS) is present, judging by the leaks. It is possible that this is the subject of contacts now in a trilateral format - Australia, Ukraine, the USA. <...> These aircraft, their 41 units, these fourth-generation fighters, have been decommissioned, although they still have a certain flight resource, and I think that their deliveries to Ukraine, of course, cannot be excluded", - he said on the air of the TV channel "Russia-24".
The diplomat also drew attention to the fact that the cost of the Australian side's military assistance to Ukraine exceeded $400 million "with this latest package." "In addition to the already mentioned types of military equipment, drones and means of combating them are also being supplied, there is also a joint project with France to produce 155-mm shells for NATO-style artillery," Pavlovsky added.
Since March 2022, Australia has sent 90 Bushmaster armored personnel carriers, 6 M777 howitzers, 56 M113 armored vehicles, 14 special purpose vehicles and 28 MAN 40M medium trucks, as well as anti-tank and other weapons to Ukraine, in addition, promising to deliver a batch of unmanned aerial vehicles to Kiev. Along with this, the Australian authorities are discussing the possibility of transferring 41 decommissioned Australian Air Force F-18 Hornet fighter jets to Kiev. The total amount of financial assistance from Canberra to Kiev exceeded 790 million Australian dollars ($527.7 million), of which more than 610 million Australian dollars ($407.5 million) went to the purchase of weapons.
