In a moment of international diplomacy that somehow managed to be both heartwarming and wallet-draining, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced an additional $60m in support for Ukraine's fight against Russia's invasion. The announcement came during an emotional meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the UN meeting in New York, where the two leaders hugged it out like old friends who just remembered they left the stove on.

Albanese, who was clearly feeling the feels, paid tribute to his "friend" Zelenskyy, calling his leadership "quite extraordinary" given the "extraordinarily difficult" circumstances. "Russia thought it could just steamroll through in a matter of weeks," he said, "and what we have found is that the people of Ukraine were underestimated." In other news, water is wet, and Russia's military strategy appears to have been drawn up by a toddler with a crayon.

The two leaders signed a 10-year bilateral security agreement, which will see an extra $45m in Australian Defence Force equipment shipped to Ukraine. Another $10m will go to Ukraine's energy support fund, because apparently keeping the lights on is now a military strategy, and $5m will be spent on humanitarian assistance. This brings Australia's total contribution since Russia's 2022 invasion to a cool $1.9bn - roughly the cost of a few Sydney parking spots, but for democracy.

As part of the agreement, Australia will step up training to help Ukrainian forces deter and repel future Russian attacks, and will explore co-operation for training centres and jointly produce air-defence measures, missiles and drones. Because nothing says "friendship" like helping someone build better ways to blow up tanks.

Albanese called the agreement a "proud day for Australians" in seeking to uphold international laws. "This is an issue not just for Europe, this is an issue for the world," he told reporters in New York. "If a large, more powerful country in Russia is allowed to profit from breaking the international rules of law with its illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine, then that sets a bad precedent for the entire world." Yes, because history has shown that letting bullies win always works out so well.

Zelenskyy, for his part, called the agreement the "strongest document between our countries" and said it would increase trade and security. "It's all for our people, for the security," he said, presumably while mentally calculating how many more drones that $45m could buy.

It was a busy day of diplomacy for Albanese, who also addressed the Atlantic Council with a major foreign policy speech and signed a new strategic partnership with the Netherlands, seeking to boost defence ties and secure justice for the victims of MH17. Because why have one international crisis when you can juggle three?

In his speech, Albanese was expected to say that the international world order set up after World War II is no longer fit for purpose, and that institutions necessary post-1945 are not enough to meet present-day challenges. "Since the end of the cold war, the prevailing assumptions of international affairs were clear: openness was security, efficiency mattered more than resilience and international rules would be observed," he planned to say. "Those assumptions rested on the expectation that the influence of the major democratic powers would remain largely unchallenged. The post-1945 world order is no longer fit for purpose. Universal institutions that remain necessary are now not always sufficient for the challenges we face."

In other words, the global rulebook is about as useful as a screen door on a submarine, and everyone is just making it up as they go along. But hey, at least Australia is writing checks and hugging it out. That's something, right?