Australia has taken one of the boldest and most promising steps to curb tobacco use by introducing plain packaging for cigarettes.

The move has scared the wits out of the deadly tobacco industry. Legal challenges have been mounted all over, posing a threat to a law that Australia hopes to put fully into effect by year’s end.

Rather than join Australia in support, Ukraine has joined a few other nations in challenging the law as a violation of World Trade Organization free-trade rules.

The Economy Ministry filed a complaint requesting dispute settlement, citing alleged infringement on the trademark and copyright protections of cigarette manufacturers.

All the major tobacco merchants – Philip Morris, Japan Tobacco International and British American Tobacco – have factories that pump out tens of billions of cigarettes each year in Ukraine.

But few if any of these cigarettes are sold in Australia, making Ukraine’s opposition perplexing.

A pack of smokes can still be found for less than $1 on many street corners – one of the big reasons why 11 million Ukrainians — nearly 30 percent of nation — smoke.

So what’s really going on here?

A cigarette pack serves as one of the industry’s best remaining ways to put a pretty package and recognizable label on cancer sticks and then market them to image-conscious consumers who, if they become addicted and keep smoking, will die prematurely of smoking-related illnesses.

The plain packaging law – which combines olive drab-colored covers with strong, large and graphic health warnings – is a brilliant public health stroke.

It takes away a customer’s loyalty to a particular brand or marketing slogan.

All cigarettes will look the same and, hopefully, unappealing.

The tobacco industry is afraid that their customers, not being able to tell one brand from another, will have even more incentive to quit – or at least to spend less money on high-price brands.

The proof of the tobacco industry’s fear is shown by Philip Morris, which is spearheading the huge and costly legal campaign to stop Australia.

The tobacco industry doesn’t want plain packaging laws to catch on in other nations because such a prospect will mean fewer smokers and lower profits.

The industry has always been powerful in Ukraine, and its lobbyists once more got the government to do its bidding in this case.

But what about free trade?

Tobacco and other deadly products must be excluded from the normal rules governing the trade of less harmful goods.

Considering the loss of life – 100,000 Ukrainians alone die prematurely each year from smoking – and the massive health-care costs, cigarettes need to be highly taxed and their sales heavily regulated.

Despite progress in recent years, Ukraine still has a long way to go in more strongly regulating and taxing the tobacco trade.

A pack of smokes can still be found for less than $1 on many street corners – one of the big reasons why 11 million Ukrainians — nearly 30 percent of nation — smoke.

Ukraine should withdraw this challenge and switch to the winning team – made up of those who value public health and who want to reduce the millions of preventable, premature deaths caused worldwide by smoking each year.

It would be an even better idea for Ukraine to emulate Australia’s progressiveness, and adopt its own plain packaging law combined with strong health warnings on packs, rather than do the bidding of the cigarette makers.