Australia will send drones to Ukraine and expand sanctions against Russian government, military and media figures as part of a pledge to stand with Kyiv “for as long as it takes”.
Announcing the new support on the first anniversary of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Albanese government said the sanctions would also target “those spreading mistruths to justify this war”.
The package rolls out travel bans and asset freezes for a further 90 Russian individuals and 40 Russian entities, including the state-owned media outlet Sputnik.
The listed individuals include the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, who is a trusted ally of Vladimir Putin and has referred to Russia’s opponents in Ukraine as “evil forces”.
The new measures mean Australia has now imposed sanctions on more than 1,000 individuals or organisations seen as complicit in Russia’s aggression.
The drones, valued at $33m, are not armed but will help the Ukrainian armed forces monitor Russian troop movements as the war drags on.
This donation brings the total Australian military assistance to Ukraine to $510m, including 90 Bushmaster protected mobility vehicles, although the delivery schedule remains secret.
The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, said the uncrewed aerial systems would “provide a battlefield intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability to the Ukrainian armed forces as they continue to fight against the unwarranted aggression of Russia”.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said the additional sanctions were “targeting those in the Russian government who are helping prolong this war, those financing this war, and those spreading mistruths to justify this war”.
“Australia’s sanctions regime against Russia is our largest,” she said.
The listings include Russian ministers and officials and key players in the country’s defence industry.
The chief executive of Channel One Russia, Konstantin Lvovich Ernst, is one of the media figures on the list, according to the sanctions instrument published late on Thursday.
The organisations include Task Force Rusich, which the sanctions notice describes as an armed separatist group involved in the fighting in eastern Ukraine.
Before making the listings, Wong had to be satisfied that the targets met at least one of several criteria, such as being “responsible for, or complicit in, the threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine”.
The minister found that others on the list were “engaging in an activity or performing a function that is of economic or strategic significance to Russia”, the sanctions document states.
The Coalition called on the government to “do all that is necessary to ensure that Australia remains at the forefront of non-Nato support for Ukraine”.
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The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, said: “The Australian embassy in Kyiv must be reinstated and join the 67 diplomatic missions which have already returned.”
The latest moves reflect ongoing bipartisan Australian support for Ukraine, even as Putin steps up his denunciation of “hostile actions of the west against our country”.
In a speech earlier this week, the Russian president contended the US was enlisting allies to rewrite the post-second world war security architecture and “build an American-style world where there is only one master”.
But Putin’s decision to halt Russia’s participation in New Start, the last major remaining nuclear arms control treaty with the US, has drawn international condemnation.
The UN general assembly was expected to widely support a resolution co-sponsored by Australia urging Russia to withdraw from all parts of Ukraine.
Friday is significant because it marks the first anniversary of the large-scale invasion. But Ukrainian advocates have expressed frustration that the world “turned a blind eye to the violation of international law” since Russia occupied Crimea and supported separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014.
During a visit to Australia, the historian Dr Olesya Khromeychuk, the director of the Ukrainian Institute London, said many Ukrainians had suffered prior to 24 February 2022. These included her brother, who was killed in action in eastern Ukraine in 2017.
“My main message at the moment is to ask people to find the energy and the courage to be fully invested in Ukraine’s victory, because it really matters right now,” Khromeychuk told Guardian Australia in an interview in Canberra.
“Another message that I have to the international community is that we’re not powerless. We shouldn’t sit back and watch this war, you know, as if it’s happening somewhere on TV – we have agency to make things change and ensuring justice [for war crimes] is one of those things that we can be proactive about.”
Friday will also mark the graduation of the first rotation of about 200 Ukrainian recruits from the training program provided by Australian soldiers in the United Kingdom.
The Ukrainian ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, told the ABC’s 7.30 program he would work with the Australian government on a plan for further support over the next 12 months.