Russian Invasion: Australia Offer Armoured Bushmaster Vehicles To Ukraine

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison says his country will send armoured Bushmaster vehicles to Ukraine after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy specifically asked for them during a video appeal to Australian lawmakers.

Morrison told reporters the vehicles will be flown over on Boeing C-17 Globemaster transport planes but did not specify how many would be sent or when.

“We’re not just sending our prayers, we are sending our guns, we’re sending our munitions, we’re sending our humanitarian aid, we’re sending all of this, our body armor, all of these things and we’re going to be sending our armoured vehicles, our Bushmasters, as well,” Morrison said.

In his address to the Australian Parliament on Thursday, President Zelenskiy had specifically made a passionate appeal for the Australian-made, four-wheel-drive Bushmaster vehicles to assist Ukraine prosecute the war with Russia.

“You have very good armed personnel vehicles, Bushmasters, that could help Ukraine substantially, and other pieces of equipment,” Zelenskiy said.

In another development, reports indicate the Russian troops have taken an unspecified number of captive Ukrainian servicemen hostage after leaving Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

According to officials of the Ukrainian State Nuclear Agency, Energoatom that released a statement on Telegram, citing plant workers; “As they ran away from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the Russian occupiers took members of the National Guard, whom they had held hostage since February 24, 2022 with them.”

However, the claims are yet to be independently verified and it also remains unclear how many, if any, Ukrainian servicemen were taken away. – With The Guardian report