Anthony Albanese has flown out of Perth bound for Europe and security talks as Ukraine marks 500 days since the beginning of war with Russia.

The Prime Minister will get down to business on Monday in Berlin, where he will meet German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The two are expected to discuss Ukraine’s struggle against Russia’s President Vladimir Putin as well as economic and business issues, including modernisation of industry and clean energy.

Australia’s pitch for a free trade agreement with the European Union is also likely to feature.

Mr Albanese’s next stop will be the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, where he, New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and the leaders of Japan and South Korea have been invited to share their views on regional and global security.

The Indo-Pacific quartet

The presence of the so-called “Indo-Pacific Four” is part of a NATO push to promote relations with like-minded partners across the globe in order to “address cross-cutting security issues and global challenges, as well as to defend the rules-based international order”.

Mr Albanese is expected to meet with a number of European leaders including Ukrainian’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said on Friday Ukraine’s citizens had shown “immeasurable strength and bravery to protect their home, their culture and their people”.

The conflict’s toll stands at more than 9000 civilian deaths and almost 16,000 injuries.

The federal opposition has described Australia’s latest support package as significantly short of Ukraine’s requests for additional military capability including Bushmasters, Hawkeis, Abrams tanks and de-mining equipment.

But Education Minister Jason Clare flagged more support could be on its way to Ukraine.

“At the moment we are the biggest non-NATO investor or supporter of the effort in Ukraine, except for Sweden, who is about to become part of NATO,” he told Sky News on Sunday.

“I won’t pre-empt what the Prime Minister says at the meeting, it’s an important meeting.

“The Prime Minister has been very clear that there’s more to come.”

Australia announced an extra $110 million in support just over a week ago, bringing total assistance to $790 million.

Keating weighs in

Meanwhile, former prime minister Paul Keating has praised French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to stop NATO setting up a liaison office in Asia.

Talks at the summit were to include plans on establishing the office in Tokyo, which was seen as strengthening ties in the Pacific, but President Macron blocked the idea.

Mr Keating said the French decision was correct, saying NATO was straying from its intended purpose and President Macron was “doing the world a service”.

“The Europeans have been fighting each other for the better part of 300 years, including giving the rest of us two world wars in the last hundred,” he said.

“Exporting that malicious poison to Asia would be akin to Asia welcoming the plague upon itself.

“With all of Asia’s recent development amid its long and latent poverty, that promise would be compromised by having anything to do with the militarism of Europe – and militarism egged on by the United States.”

-AAP