Reopen Ukraine embassy to send message to ‘autocrats and tyrants’, Birmingham pledges

The Government faces increasing pressure to reopen Australia’s embassy in Ukraine — standing empty at a cost of $520,000 — as the Opposition uses a high-profile visit to the war-torn nation to pledge it would restore the outpost in Kyiv.

Shadow foreign minister Simon Birmingham says the move would underscore Australia’s continued support for Ukraine, send a message to other “autocrats and tyrants” and remove an irritant in the relationship that President Volodymyr Zelensky has personally pleaded over.

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