Ukraine will receive aid from New Zealand

This was announced by Prime Minister Christopher Lacson and Foreign Minister Winston Peters on the eve of the NATO summit in The Hague.

In particular, 4 million New Zealand dollars (2.3 million US dollars) will be sent to multinational funds that provide Ukraine with lethal and non-lethal assistance — the NATO Security Assistance Fund (NSATU) and the "Drone Coalition", which is coordinated by Britain and Latvia.

The defense of Ukraine has significant implications not only for the security of the Euro-Atlantic region, but also for the Indo-Pacific. We must continue to work with other members of the international community to uphold a rules-based order that serves all of our interests.

Another NZD 7 million (USD 4.1 million) will go to support affected communities inside Ukraine, and NZD 1 million (USD 593,000) will go to help Ukrainians who have found refuge in neighboring countries.

The scale of the needs remains enormous as Russia continues to bomb densely populated civilian areas of Ukraine.

Wellington also recalled the recently introduced sanctions against the Russian "shadow fleet" and individuals involved in the continuation of the war.

It is crucial that the international community continue to pressure Russia to end the war and join efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.