We have now exceeded the milestone of 1500 supporters, and I have sent off another message to parliament.

I sent a Tweet to the PM, the Minister of Defence, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs: https://twitter.com/fintin/status/1538758584229838848?s=20

Give it a like.

I am not the only one working on increasing NZ's military aid to Ukraine. 

@Dr_F_Hunter is also working on this. Give his Tweet a like too: https://twitter.com/Dr_F_Hunter/status/1538688507543269383?s=20

I also emailed the same ministers with the full list of supporters.

I updated my cover letter to the following content:

"There are now over 1500 supporters for the petition to gift New Zealand's surplus armoured vehicles to Ukraine.
The current list of signatures is attached to this email. And the petition itself can be viewed on https://www.change.org/NZLAVForUkraine

It recently came to my attention that the total number of surplus NZLAVs may actually be 40. In this 2020 Stuff article the former minister of defence states: "as many as 40 might prove fit for sale or modification"
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300031072/defence-minister-defends-huge-military-spend-amid-economic-downturn

This means that following the finalisation of the deal to the Chilean Navy of 22 vehicles, the total number of surplus vehicles is 18. And even if only the remainder from the sale was taken, that would still be 8.

Infantry Fighting Vehicles are one of the things Ukraine is asking for, and they are also not asking for Soviet equipment anymore - they are now asking for NATO equipment.

Getting the vehicles to Ukraine would also not be an issue. This could be done in the same way that the Australian equipment is being moved - via airlift. This could be airlifted on either a Globemaster or a Ukrainian AN-124 Antonov cargo transport.

I am sure that the NZDF would be pleased to provide Ukrainian troops with training on these vehicles - just like they already are on the L119 gun.

If these vehicles were supplied to Ukraine it would likely be the most useful thing they will ever do. In addition the LAV3 vehicle is designed for large scale open terrain warfare - precisely the conditions in Ukraine, and actually more suitable than the conditions these vehicles were used in in Afghanistan.

We do not need these vehicles, especially since we have 43 Bushmaster vehicles arriving from Australia later this year.

Ukraine does need these vehicles, and I am confident a gesture of gifting these to Ukraine would be something Ukraine would never forget. The sheer goodwill this would generate far outweighs any potential costs involved.

Thank you for your time,

Finn"