Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Friday 24 February marked one year since Russia launched its illegal and immoral full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The war raging as we speak is an unlawful attack against Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. It has now resulted, according to US estimates, in 200,000 dead and many injured. At least 40,000 civilians have likely died in the conflict, and 140,000 buildings have been destroyed, costing around US$350 billion. Fourteen million Ukrainians fled the country when war broke out, and seven million are internally displaced. These are mainly women.

The Russian invasion is not a limited war bound by the laws of armed conflict in the UN Charter. The images of civilian bodies lying in the streets of Bucha with their arms tied, shot after being tortured—which are clear war crimes—are too fresh in our minds for any of us to fall for that. Russia is pursuing a total war that aims at nothing less than the destruction of the national, cultural, religious and democratic institutions of the Ukrainian people.

The initial Russian war aim was not what Moscow's propaganda machine parroted to its own population: a clinical intervention to de-Nazify a country led by a Jewish leader. It was not. The goal was regime change. The initial Russian war plan was to storm Kyiv, kill President Zelenskyy and install a puppet regime. This plan failed because it met with the irresistible force of the heroic and effective resistance of the Ukrainian armed forces which, frankly, stunned the world. Russia's plan also failed because it met with the awe-inspiring reaction of a genuine people's war. Within days, Ukrainian society mobilised en masse. Many young and old Ukrainians joined the armed forces and territorial defence units by the thousands, not simply because they had to but because they wanted to. Compare that, if you will, with the 700,000 young people who fled the country during mass mobilisation in Russia. Countless Ukrainian civilians also joined the war effort by flying reconnaissance drones, raising funds, and even, in the case of Ukrainian farmers, literally towing away enemy tanks.

The Russians have greatly underestimated the Ukrainian people. They also dramatically underestimated the sympathy and solidarity that their resistance would kindle for Ukraine around the world. The Kiel Institute for the World Economy estimates that 46 countries gave the equivalent of $168 billion in financial, humanitarian and military aid from the start of the war. That's immense when you consider that Ukraine's GDP was $290 billion in 2021.

I wish to acknowledge local advocates in Darwin, including the Northern Territory Ukrainian Society president, Tatiana Hoffmann, for their leadership on this issue. With Tatiana and supporters, we gathered in front of the NT parliament to mark a year of the war. Last week in Melbourne, I caught up with the ambassador, Vasyl, and reiterated our solidarity with Ukraine. Slava Ukraini.

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