Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised Australia will provide further military aid to Ukraine after visiting war-ravaged towns near Kyiv.
Mr Albanese visited the towns of Bucha and Irpin, as well as Hostomel airport — known sites of brutal mass killings committed by Russian forces that have been examined by war crimes investigators.
Accompanied by the Governor of Kyiv Oblast, Oleksiy Kuleba, Mr Albanese appeared disturbed by the destruction.
"Here we have what's clearly a residential building," he said.
"Another one just behind it, brutally assaulted.
Mr Albanese said the damage wrought upon residential neighbourhoods was heartbreaking.
"These are homes and these are livelihoods and indeed lives that have been lost here in this town,” he said.
“And the fact that you had such a significant force — you can see the use of tanks, missiles, heavy artillery being used in a civilian area — it's just devastating."
The Prime Minister later met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
During a joint press conference, he said Australia would provide Ukraine with an additional $100 million in military aid.
"Australia stands ready to continue to support the [Ukrainian] government and the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes," Mr Albanese said.
The Australian support includes 34 additional armoured vehicles, including 20 Bushmasters, and other technical equipment such as drones Ukraine requested.
The extra Bushmasters come on top of 40 already promised or delivered, while the M113 armoured personnel carriers are in addition to 14 already promised.
The extra support brings total value of Australia's assistance to Ukraine to about $390 million.
Mr Albanese said Australia would continue to support Ukraine "for as long as it takes for Ukraine to emerge victorious".
"You are fighting for the international rule of law," he said.
He also announced sanctions and travel bans on a further 16 Russian ministers and oligarchs, taking the number of individuals Australia is targeting to 843, and the number of sanctioned entities to 62.
The Prime Minister commended the leadership of Mr Zelenskyy and reiterated Australia's support for Ukraine.
"Australia stands ready to continue to support the government and the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes."
Mr Zelenskyy welcomed the assistance but declared: "It is never enough when you have such an adversary."
"Enough is when we have some kind of advantage, to push them out of our territory," he said.
"Any single state cannot provide for this no matter how hard they try."
He said he suggested to Mr Albanese that Australia "join the post-war rebuilding process of Ukraine", which is set to cost trillions of dollars.
"I am grateful for [Australia's] decision to join the process," he said.
"It is important for us. It is important for the whole world."
"It is a very ambitious project.
"I would like to express words of gratitude for [the] negotiations, for coming today for Ukraine."
Mr Albanese joins a long list of prime ministers and presidents from around the world who have visited Ukraine, including the leaders of Germany, France, Italy, Indonesia, the United Kingdom and Canada.
But the visit was the first by an Australian prime minister to the country, which Mr Zelenskyy said he wished had happened in more peaceful times.
Despite several countries placing sanctions on Russia and ever-growing calls for Russia's President Vladimir Putin to step back, Russia continues its attacks on Ukraine, with a shopping mall targeted by a missile strike less than a week ago.
Earlier this year, Mr Zelenskyy addressed federal parliament and asked Australia to provide Bushmasters which have since been sent to Ukraine.
In his most recent public address, ahead of meeting with Mr Albanese, Mr Zelenskyy issued a worldwide request for international humanitarian aid.
"It is necessary not only to repair everything the occupiers have destroyed but also to create a new foundation for our lives: safe, modern, comfortable, accessible," he said.
His call comes just ahead of the international Ukraine Recovery Conference that will be held in Switzerland.
Australia has already provided millions of dollars in humanitarian aid and military assistance.
News of additional government support came as Ukraine's ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, called for Canberra to provide additional ammunition and Bushmaster vehicles.
Mr Albanese's trip to Ukraine follows his attendance at the NATO summit in Madrid, where European world leaders, as well as those from New Zealand, South Korea, Japan and the United States labelled Russia the biggest "direct threat" to Western security.
In the latest from the region, Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from Lysychansk, the final Ukrainian holdout, but vowed to restore control over the area.
Mr Zelenskyy acknowledged this on Sunday during his nightly video address.
"If the commanders of our army withdraw people from certain points at the front, where the enemy has the greatest advantage in fire power, and this also applies to Lysychansk, it means only one thing: that we will return thanks to our tactics, thanks to the increase in the supply of modern weapons," Mr Zelenskyy said.
After fierce Ukrainian resistance prevented Russia seizing Kyiv after its February 24 invasion, Moscow turned its focus to taking full control of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.
Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting in the area since Russia's first military intervention in Ukraine in 2014.
ABC/AP
