War against democracies 'next door' to Australia: envoy
The threat to democracies posed by authoritarian regimes is "so close you cannot even imagine", Ukraine's top diplomat in Australia has warned.
Addressing a University of Canberra event at the National Press Club, Vasyl Myroshnychenko said if democracy was to survive Ukraine must win the conflict started by Russia.
"The reason we're asking for support is because if we fall, you all will crumble," he said on Monday.
"Let me tell you Australia, this war is next door.
"It's so close that you cannot even imagine."
The ambassador said the western world had lost the global south.
"Most of the countries don't support us ... globally, and that's a matter of democracy," he said.
Mr Myroshnychenko said Australia with its capital, expertise, and technology could help Ukraine mine rare earths.
"We should create an alliance of democracies in rare earth and critical minerals," he said.Washington and Kyiv signed a deal to set up a joint reconstruction investment fund to attract investment for Ukrainian projects in minerals.
The European Union's ambassador to Australia Gabriele Visentin said the bloc was watching Australia's decision to set up a $1.2 billion critical minerals reserve "with interest".
He said a Memorandum of Understanding signed last year between Australia and the EU on critical minerals was a "no brainer".
The EU was working to ensure no more than 65 per cent of any strategic mineral would come from a single supplier, except countries the bloc had a free-trade agreement with or a strategic partnership, which is the case with Australia.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
In an overnight attack, it launched more than 360 drones and missiles, the highest number in a single night.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the "abhorrent" missile attacks demonstrated Russia wasn't serious about wanting to end its war.
"Ukraine's citizens continue to bravely resist Russia's aggression," she said in a post on X.
"We grieve the civilian lives lost."
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Russian forces struck industrial facilities and infrastructure in the western city of Ternopil, leaving parts of it without power, mayor Serhii Nadal said. The regional administration said the attack injured five people and recommended residents stay inside due to a high concentration of toxic substances in the air after a fire. In one of the most audacious attacks of the war between Ukraine and Russia, Ukrainian spies last weekend destroyed some of Russia's strategic bomber aircraft on the ground using quadrocopter drones hidden in wooden sheds. Ukraine used drones to strike Russian heavy bomber planes at air bases in Siberia and the far north at the weekend, and Russia also accused it of blowing up rail bridges in the south of the country, killing seven people. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, at his daily briefing with reporters, highlighted comments made by Putin a day earlier about the railway attacks. 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"The president described the Kyiv regime as a terrorist regime, because it was the regime's leadership that consciously gave the order, the command, the order to blow up a passenger train. This is nothing other than terrorism at the state level. This is an important statement by the president," Peskov said. Russia has not yet provided evidence that Ukrainian leaders ordered the rail attacks, and Kyiv has not acknowledged responsibility. Ukrainian attacks inside Russia and Russian air strikes and advances on the battlefield have escalated the war that began in February 2022, damaging prospects for peace talks that the two sides resumed in Turkey in May.
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