Christopher Luxon says New Zealand stands by Ukraine. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
The prime minister says the government would be open to sending peacekeepers to Ukraine if a ceasefire was reached.
It follows European leaders meeting in Paris for an emergency summit on the future of Ukraine.
Luxon said New Zealand stood with Ukraine because it was unacceptable for a major power to cause huge amounts of suffering.
"I think that is something we'd be open to, but obviously it's speculative at this point, but we do support a lot of peacekeeping missions around the world and this is something that we would be open to working through."
Currently New Zealand troops were embedded with British troops and working to train Ukrainian forces in the United Kingdom, he said.
Christopher Luxon told Morning Report that New Zealand stands by Ukraine.
"We very much stand with Ukraine, I mean we're a country ... with our strong set of values around nation states and sovereignty of nations."
The war there was one of several shifts from rules to power, from economics to security and from global efficiency to resilience in international relations, he said.
Luxon said he was open to sending troops as peacekeepers and said the negotiations to end the war were a good thing, but Ukraine should be involved in them.
Labour's support
Labour leader Chris Hipkins expressed support for sending peacekeeping troops, saying New Zealand had contributed similar deployments in the past.
"We have been strongly opposed to Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. If there is a way to achieve peace that New Zealand could play a constructive role in helping to deliver we should be open to doing that."
He said he was also open to New Zealand playing a role in peacekeeping before a peace treaty was agreed.
"If it was part of moving towards a peace arrangement... then New Zealand should be open to discussing what kind of role we could play in that. We need to step through that carefully, we shouldn't take options off the table at this point, but we should make sure that obviously we're making careful decisions in that area."
He expected the government to at least have a conversation with the opposition about any such deployment.
"To be clear, I'm not making a commitment today, I'm saying that New Zealand should be open to having those conversations. I think we would need to know what the ask is of us before we make a final decision on that."
Foreign Minister Winston Peters also spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart on Tuesday morning. In a social media post, he said they discussed "Ukraine's efforts to achieve a just, comprehensive and lasting peace - and its need for ongoing support from the international community".
"The minister reiterated New Zealand's longstanding and steadfast support for Ukraine," he said.
Luxon pledges to get NZ defence spending close to 2% of GDP
Luxon said he wants to get New Zealand's defence spending close to 2 percent of gross domestic product.
New Zealand currently spends just over 1 percent of GDP on defence with more set to revealed about the future spending plans in the Defence Capability Plan, although at this stage it is unknown when the plan will be released.
US President Donald Trump has been pushing for higher defence spending in Europe - and may yet push for other countries to do the same.
Luxon said the Defence Capability Plan sought to give certainty about the capability New Zealand would need in defence over the next 15 years, he said.
"We will be getting as close to 2 percent [of defence spending on GDP] as we possibly can, we know that's the pathway we want to get to."
Asked when defence spending would reach the 2 percent mark, Luxon said that would be revealed via the Defence Capability Plan in due course.
"As we put more money in, I want to make sure we've got a really good strategy and part of that is making sure that we're very inter-operable with Australia, for example, that we've got some real capability, that we're respected around the world."
More money needed to go into the defence system but equally it was important that as a small country New Zealand chose carefully about where it wanted to build that capability, he said.
He later told reporters at Parliament the defence capability plan - which sets out the government's spending priorities - was "close to" being signed off.
"I want to make sure we've got a very good bottom-up build defence capability plan that we can add to and accelerate over time, but importantly we're building capability that actually augments and works alongside the Australian Defence Force as well.
"We will need to spend more money on defence, and we will do that."
Hipkins said it was not helpful to focus on an an "arbitrary" target of 2 percent of GDP and the focus should be on paying for what's needed.
"An arbitrary target around percentage of GDP is not where we should be aiming. The question that New Zealanders should be asking and that the New Zealand governemnt should be asking is 'what's the capability that we need in our defence force', and that will cost as much as it will cost.
"We've got big some decisions coming at us over the next decade or so... the ANZAC frigates... we don't have icebreaking capability in our naval fleet at the moment, and yet the Southern Ocean is right on our doorstep. These are the sorts of conversations we should have."
He rubbished National's track record of delivering defence spending.
"The replacement of the air force's fleet of Orions, that was a Labour government. Replacement of the Hercules fleet, that was a Labour government. The purchase of new naval vessels like the Manawanui, that was a Labour government. They talk a big game, they don't ever deliver.
"So far this government's decreased defence spending, so you know, they're talking about increasing something that they've already cut."
Labour defence spokesperson Peeni Henare took a similar approach, pointing out the government's capability plan was meant to be released last June and has been delayed multiple times since.
"What's the plan, and how are they going to pay for it? ... There's been absolute radio silence from the government on the matter, which tells me that they're scared about having to put their money where their mouth is."
He said Labour still needed to draw up its own policy on defence spending.
"I know we've been challenged in the past, and we know too that the 2 percent lines aligns itself with NATO, which brings me back to the original point - what is the plan on our international foreign policy? Because this government clearly doesn't have one."
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