Day: July 3, 2022

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Sunday pledged further military support to Ukraine, including armored vehicles and drones, while meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.

Making the first ever visit to Ukraine by an Australian premier, Albanese said at a news conference in Kyiv that his country would give Ukraine “a hundred million dollars of military support,” without specifying if he meant Australian dollars.

This figure in Australian dollars would amount to $68 million.

The prime minister specified that Australia would provide extra military equipment requested by Ukraine including 14 armored personnel carriers, 20 Bushmaster armored vehicles and a number of drones.

Zelenskyy said that Australia was giving Ukraine “considerable aid, in particular defense support” and that Ukrainian forces “highly valued” the Bushmaster vehicle.

Albanese toured the towns of Bucha and Irpin where Russian forces are alleged to have committed war crimes, as well as the airport at Gostomel northwest of Kyiv.

“It is my great honor to be the first Australian prime minister to visit Ukraine,” he said, adding that his trip “would show very clearly to the world the solidarity that exists between the Australian people and the people of Ukraine.”

He paid tribute to the “courage, resilience, bravery and determination” of Ukraine’s president, defense forces and people, saying they were “determined to stand up to a bully which is breaching international law without any provocation or any excuse.”

The Australian politician also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin would get the “reception he deserves” if he attends a G-20 summit in Bali in November, as the Kremlin has suggested he will.

“If it is the case that Mr. Putin attends that meeting… he will get the reception that he deserves, which is not one of a friend, of someone who respects the international rule of law,” the Australian premier said.

At the same time, he said he could not imagine Australia would boycott the event, while “we believe in isolating Russia as much as possible.”

Albanese came to Ukraine after meeting French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris Friday.

Ukraine last month announced that an Australian man had died while fighting for the International Legion of Defense of Ukraine, an official volunteer brigade.

Source: Voice of America

Macau kicked off a new round of city-wide COVID-19 testing on Monday for its more than 600,000 residents, as officials raced to contain a spiraling number of cases in the worst outbreak to hit the world’s biggest gambling hub since the pandemic began.

Coronavirus testing for all residents will take place three times this week across the city, with people also required to take rapid antigen tests in between.

The move comes as the former Portuguese colony reported 90 new cases on Sunday, taking the total number of infections to 784 since the middle of June. More than 11,000 people are in quarantine.

While Macau, a Chinese special administrative region, has not introduced a full-scale lockdown seen in mainland Chinese cities like Shanghai, the city is already largely closed.

All non-essential government services are shut, schools, parks, sports and entertainment facilities are closed, and restaurants can only provide takeaway.

Casinos are allowed to remain open, but most staff have been asked to stay home, in line with instructions to the city’s residents. The government said it would not shut casinos to protect jobs.

The stringent measures come after Macau has been largely COVID-free since an outbreak in October 2021.

Macau adheres to China’s “zero-COVID” policy which aims to eradicate all outbreaks, at just about any cost, running counter to a global trend of trying to co-exist with the virus.

Macau’s cases are still far below daily infections in other places, including neighboring Hong Kong where cases have jumped to more than 2,000 a day this month.

However, it only has one public hospital, whose services are already stretched on a daily basis. The territory has an open border with mainland China, with many residents living and working in the adjoining city of Zhuhai.

Source: Voice of America