Canada to send money, radar satellite images to Ukraine

The Canadian government will be sending financial aid plus radarsatellite images to Ukraine to support their fight against Russian-backed separatists, according to Defence Minister Jason Kenney.

In an interview airing Saturday on CBC Radio'sThe House, Kenney told host Evan Solomon that Canada is preparing a new financial package for Ukraine.

"I can't give you a precise date but when Prime Minister Harper visited Ukraine (he) confirmed Canada would provide financial assistance," Kenney said in the interview. "We are hoping to continue to do so."

• Listen to The House on CBC Radio and online
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Canada's new defence minister also said radarsatellite imageswill be shared withthe Ukrainian military.

"We will begin providing radar satellite images to Ukraine, which was the single biggest ask of Ukrainian President Poroshenko when he was in Ottawa in September," Kenney said.

"It will be enormously helpful for Ukrainians in tracking Russian troop movements inside their territory."

Lethal aid being discussed

Canada has already sent around $66 million in night-vision goggles, cold weather gear and other non-lethal aid toUkrainesince the conflict broke out.

Kenneysaid the idea of sending lethal aid is being talked about, including when German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Harper in Ottawa this week.

"We don't have huge stockpiles of equipment to supply, if we were to get into that kind of business it would be by acquiring it from other vendors and then supplying it to Ukrainians," Kenney said.

"We're not going to do anything in that regard without a consensus amongst our allies, Canada will not act alone in that regard."

Following more than 5,000 deaths over the length of the conflict, a ceasefire brokered by Germany and France is set to come into effect on Sunday.

Kenney said Canada is "pretty skeptical" of the ceasefire's success given Russian President Vladimir Putin's "unbroken record of violating the two previous ceasefire agreements and interfering in the most outrageous ways in Ukraine."

You can hear more of Kenney's interview on Ukraine, Iraq and the upcoming federal budget onThe House, airing 9 a.m. (9:30 a.m. NT) Saturday on CBC Radio and online.