The Australian government is facing increasing pressure to reopen the Australian embassy in Ukraine – which stood empty and cost $520,000 – while the opposition uses a high-profile visit to the war-torn country to promise it will restore the outpost in Kyiv.
Shadow Foreign Minister Simon Birmingham said the move would underline Australia's continued support for Ukraine, send a message to other “autocrats and tyrants” and remove a nuisance in relations that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had personally criticised.