Australia and New Zealand back PURL, pledge support for Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon (Photo: vasyl.myroshnychenko)
Australia and New Zealand have joined the PURL initiative, which provides for the supply of American weapons and equipment to Ukraine, funded by NATO members. The countries are also providing military aid packages worth $63 million and $8.7 million, respectively, states NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte following the Ukraine–NATO Council meeting on December 3.
Regarding financial assistance from New Zealand, Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, later wrote on Facebook.
According to him, New Zealand will contribute NZD 15 million (USD 8.7 million) to PURL, a figure confirmed by the country’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defense Minister Judith Collins.
Australia, however, will distribute its funds not only through PURL. The AUD 95 million (or USD 63 million) package includes:
- AUD 50 million for PURL;
- AUD 2 million for the Drone Coalition;
- AUD 43 million for military equipment, including tactical air defense radar stations, ammunition, and combat engineering support equipment.
“The burden sharing is now in a much better place than it was only, let's say, four or six weeks ago. And the fact that now even New Zealand and Australia... and they are not in NATO. They are close NATO partners through the Indo-Pacific for cooperation, but they are not in NATO. That they have also now committed to the program is really great news. And it gives us the sustained flow of weapons into Ukraine from essential US stockpiles,” Rutte noted.
As is known, Ukraine does indeed receive American weapons, but through the PURL system - a mechanism within NATO created for the regular transfer of weapons, ammunition, and military equipment to Kyiv, funded by the collective resources of alliance countries.
As previously reported, five countries have allocated $1 billion for the purchase of weapons for Ukraine under the PURL program. Ukrainian defenders will, in particular, receive missiles for Patriot systems.
