Prime Minister Jacinda has spoken to Denys Shmyhal on Saturday morning, with the Ukrainian Prime Minister thanking New Zealand for being one of the first countries to take action over Russia's invasion.
"As he noted, when it comes to the importance of the global response, there is no bigger or smaller country, there are only countries that are reacting," Ardern said following the talk on Saturday morning.
"I conveyed our condemnation of President Putin's unprovoked, unjustified and illegal attack on Ukraine – an attack which continues to unnecessarily claim the lives of so many innocent people.
"New Zealand will continue to call on Russia to immediately cease military operations in Ukraine, and permanently withdraw to avoid further catastrophic loss of innocent life."
On Friday, the first tranche of sanctions under the recently passed Russia Sanctions Act were enacted by the Government.
It has seen an additional 364 Russians added to New Zealand's travel ban list.
Alongside that, 13 individuals and 19 entities have been added to the targeted sanctions list.
New Zealand has provided $6 million in funding to support Ukraine's humanitarian need and has introduced the 'Special Ukraine Policy', which is open for a year and enables the around 1600 Ukrainian-born New Zealand citizens and residents in New Zealand to sponsor a family member who is in Ukraine and their immediate family, including children.
They will be granted a two-year work visa and children will be able to attend school.
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