Canada spending $59M on assault rifles, machine guns for Ukraine
PM Trudeau also says $2.4 B loan to Ukraine has been issued
Canada plans to ship thousands of assault rifles to Ukraine itslatest military contribution to the embattled eastern European country, which is still awaitingdelivery of a badly neededair defence system Ottawa promised weeks ago.
The latest federal package of military and financial assistance for Ukraine was unveiledTuesday following a meeting between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
Canada is spending $59 million to procure for Ukraine 21,000 assault rifles and machine guns, along withammunition, from weapons maker Colt Canada, headquartered in Kitchener, Ont.
WATCH |Trudeau says Canada will send thousands of assault rifles to Ukraine
Trudeau also said that a $2.4 billion loan to the government in Kyiv, announced in last month's federal budget, has been dispersed to Ukraine.The money will be used by the government of Ukraine to support essential servicessuch as pension payments, fuel purchasesand the repair ofdamaged energy infrastructure, the prime ministersaid.
Shmyhal and Trudeau also signed a joint declaration on modernizingthe free trade agreement between the two countries.
They also citeda previously announced agreement involving Saskatoon-based Cameco and Ukraine's state-owned Energoatom. Cameco will supply uranium to meet the needs of Ukraine's nuclear power stationsuntil 2035.
And thefederal government also announcedmore sanctions onRussia and Belarus.
Ukraine's air defences in peril, documents suggest
Recently leaked documents, which appear to be U.S. intelligence assessments, suggest Ukraine's air defence network isin jeopardy and could buckle under sustained Russia missile and drone assault without an influx of munitions and equipment.
In January,Canada announced that it would buy a U.S.-made missile defence system for Ukraine. The $406 million price tag is a major portion of the roughly $1 billion in military aid the Liberal government has committed to Ukraine.
TheNational Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) has not been yet been delivered and the government has beenvague on when it will get there.
"We are doing whatever is possible to get it there as soon as possible. And in fact it's being shipped in various tranches, because of course we are sending other supplies as well. So it is en route," Defence Minister Anita Anand toldCBC's Power & Politics on Tuesday.
WATCH |Air defence munitions en route to Ukraine: minister's office
Butan official in her office reached out to CBC News following the interview to clarify Anand'sstatement. The official said theair defence munitions are on their wayto Ukraine not the entire NASAMS system.
Canada apparently has reached an agreement with the United States to acquire the sophisticated ground-based launchers but has no plan at the moment for delivery, said an official who spoke on background Tuesday.
A change in Russian military tactics is driving the new sense of urgency about Ukraine's air defences.
Earlier this year, the Russian air forceintroduced to the conflict guided bombs essentially regular gravity bombs that have been modified to glide to their targets after being dropped by multi-role fighter-bombers. They being used in increasing numbers to devastating effect.
The bombs are launched outsidethe effective ranges of Ukraine'sair defences. At the moment, Ukrainehas little in the way of systems to counter them. Russia has been using modified versions of 500 kilogram bombs something they have inenormous qualities after apparentlyexhausting their supply of smart munitions.
"We are tired. This is natural," Shmyhalsaid Tuesday, while praising the military training efforts of allies, including Canada.
"We are not exhausted. We are not fatigued. We are encouraged to go ahead with the support of our partners, support of the government of Canada, the prime minister, his team ... We are sure we will win this war altogether."
On top of Shmyhal's list of requests for the Canadian government ismore weapons a critical factor right nowas Ukraine plans a counter-offensive to recover territory lost to the Russians in the aftermath of the full invasion.
But there's seems to be a growing senseamongUkrainian officialsthat Canada's capacity and willingness to move swiftly to arm them are both finite and limited.
There was a lot of talk Tuesday during Shmyhal's visit about hismeetings with business leaders about reconstruction opportunities. It is a drum Ukraine's Ambassador to CanadaYuliya Kovalivhas been quietly beating for a while, notably in a recent speech to the business community in Ottawa.
"The rebuilding of Ukraine will be massive," Kovalivtold the Canadian Club of Ottawa on March 30, 2023. Sheencouragedcompanies to begin making plans now in light of a recent World Bank report that estimated rebuilding Ukraine would cost $411 billion US.
Dominque Arel,chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Ottawa, said he doesn't believe the Ukrainianshave given up on Canadian military aid. Henoted that, proportionally,Canada is tracking close to its allies in terms of donations.
He said that Canada will never be able to match the quantity of U.S. donations and purchases and is concentrating on being useful in other ways.
ButArelalso described the leaked American intelligenceas a "not necessarily depressingbut sobering" read. It should remind alliesof how deeply vulnerable Ukraine continues to be, he said, despite its battlefield successes in holding off both the initial invasion and the recent Russian winter offensive in the easternDonbasregion.
"The one card that Putin has to play and it's not the nuclear card is the air force," said Arel. "The [Russian] air force has not been active in Ukraine for a year now because of the fear of getting shot down.
"But if the Ukrainians are suddenly vulnerable, the escalation the one we don't talk about is strategic bombing, basically what Russia has been doing in Syria."
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