Australia said Thursday it would join an international drone coalition to aid Ukraine’s war effort, uniting with allies like Britain and Latvia.

“It’s an important way to make our contribution to the effort to have Ukraine stay the course and be able to resolve this conflict on its own terms,” Australian defence minister Richard Marles said.

Ukraine has relied on the massive use of drones to compensate for a shortage of artillery shells as it tries to face down Russia’s invasion.

In the two-year war, hundreds of thousands of drones have been deployed for a range of missions, from striking targets hundreds of kilometres away, to reconnaissance, to attacking nearby enemy troops.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed to produce one million drones this year. Ukrainian officials have told AFP the armed forces needed between 100,000 to 120,000 drones per month, making outside help essential.

Australia made the announcement as Canberra hosted UK defence minister Grant Shapps.

Last month Britain and Latvia agreed to lead the drone coalition aimed at delivering thousands more unmanned aerial vehicles to Ukraine.