ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. Australia condemns the Russian missile strike on the shopping centre in the Ukraine. What we've seen here is a tragic consequence of at least 18 people killed in a shopping mall where over a thousand people were present. This is a civilian target. This reinforces the atrocities being committed in this illegal war of aggression by Russia and why it must stop. It's one of the reasons why I'm here at NATO and will be a focus on the democratic nations which make up NATO and also the Asia-Pacific four who've been invited to this important forum. Later today as well, I'll be meeting with the Prime Minister of Spain, the Prime Minister of Netherlands, and later on attending the reception for NATO leaders at the King and Queen's Palace here in Madrid.
JOURNALIST: How did these recent strikes, these new strikes and threats of war missiles in Ukraine affect your decision whether or not to go there?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we'll continue to take security advice on that. Clearly, we have a security situation which is changing day by day. And this act of aggression, there have been further missiles into Kyiv as well, mean that the world just looks at what is going on there and collectively condemns it. Because this war of aggression is seeing more and more civilians impacted. And Vladimir Putin is uniting the world against him with this sort of atrocity.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, some countries have started re-establishing or boosting their embassy presence back in Ukraine. Is that something Australia is considering? And if not, why not?
PRIME MINISTER: Australia is considering that. And that is one of the issues that has been examined over recent days and weeks. And we'll continue to do that. We would like to have a presence on the ground there to assist and to be able to provide that on-ground presence. And I'll have more to say on that in coming days and weeks.
JOURNALIST: Would you consider buying three more of the Hobart-class destroyers from the Spanish company Navantia? I understand the Prime Minister of Spain will discuss that with you today.
PRIME MINISTER: I would expect that will be one of the topics that will come up today. Australia has a close relationship with Spain. This will be Australia's first bilateral meeting at the leadership level between Australia and Spain. I look forward to constructive discussions. And I'll have more to say about that in about two hours. So, I'll see you all then.