Senator Shoebridge has come under fire after saying the Greens did not support sending military aid to Ukraine in its fight against Russia's invasion.
In an interview with the Nine newspapers after he assumed the party's leadership, he said he was against the aid being provided due to the Greens being a party of non-violence
The Greens leader will meet with Ukrainian ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko on Friday, where the position on military assistance will be discussed.
Mr Myroshnychenko said he would aim to encourage the Greens leader to change his mind.
"I'm not sure I will be able to persuade him, and I need to understand where his thinking is coming from because many green parties in Europe are actually supporting military aid to Ukraine," he told ABC TV.
"It's important to make the distinction between the offensive wars of choice, aggression, and expansion, and the wars for its desperate defence and national survival, and we don't leave an offence as a world of the unicorns."
The comments from Senator Shoebridge has also triggered divisions within the Greens, with SA Senator Sarah Hanson-Young saying Ukraine needed to be able to defend itself.
But the Greens leader denied the party was fractured over its Ukraine position.
"There is a consensus decision from the party room that indeed predates my time in the party room, that makes it very clear that the Australian Greens ... like governments across the world, do not believe in international arms trade," he told ABC TV.
"We fully support providing humanitarian aid and civilian aid to Ukraine, and we are the only party, it seems, that is calling for a full and comprehensive boycott of Russian oil."
Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said he was appalled by the stance of the Greens leader and accused him of being on the same side as Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Why Senator Shoebridge is, hopefully, unintentionally aiding and abetting Putin's invasion of Ukraine by denying critical military assistance to the armed services of Ukraine is beyond me," he told ABC Radio.
"My message to Ukrainian Australians is that we stand with you in supporting the people of Ukraine in their valiant struggle against Vladimir Putin's illegal and immoral invasion."
Australia has provided more than $1.8 billion in assistance to Ukraine since the invasion in 2022, $1.6 billion of which has been military aid.
22°C