United to win: Canada allots additional defense aid for Ukraine

Ukraine will receive ten multifunctional inflatable vessels from Canada for 15 million US dollars.

The Ministry of Defense of Canada reported this after the 18th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in the Rammstein format.

"Minister Blair announced the transfer of 10 multi-purpose vessels manufactured by Zodiac Hurricane Technologies at a total cost of approximately 20 million Canadian dollars (about 15 million US dollars). These multi-engine, rigid-hull inflatable boats will assist Ukraine in various maritime operations, including search and rescue, troop transport and cargo, surveillance, and intelligence," said the Canadian Defense Department.

It is noted that the ships and spare parts for them should arrive in Ukraine by the end of spring this year. In addition, Canada will provide Ukrainians with training in using these boats.

Canada will also increase its contribution to the "fighter coalition" by providing civilian personnel, instructors, and training aircraft to train Ukrainian pilots. "This support is estimated at approximately 15 million Canadian dollars (about 11.5 million US dollars). The training will begin in February 2024 and continue until 2025," the department emphasized.

As part of these efforts, Canada will continue to conduct language courses for Ukrainian pilots.

"Minister Blair also announced Canada's accession to two coalition forces that will report to the Contact Group on Defense of Ukraine, namely the coalition of armored vehicles and the Air Force," the Ministry of Defense clarified.

At the very end, the department informed about the arrival of part of the previously announced military aid to Ukraine, particularly small arms of NATO standards and ammunition for them, as well as winter military uniforms and equipment.

"Several more batches of these items will arrive in the coming weeks," the Canadian ministry concludes.

For reference:

Even though Canada is located far from Ukraine together with the USA, supported the Ukrainians in the war of aggression launched by Russia.

Since January 2022, Canada has already committed more than $8.9 billion in multilateral support to Ukraine, including $4.95 billion in direct financial support and more than $1.8 billion in military assistance.

It will be recalled that at the beginning of October, Canada allocated a new package of defense aid to Ukraine for conducting hostilities during the year's cold period.

In particular, the country provided Leopard 2 tanks, air defense systems, artillery for armored vehicles, and ammunition. In addition, 200 Senator armored vehicles, which Canada previously promised to transfer to Ukraine, have already been produced.

The Ukrainian military has also already received a batch of the latest armored vehicles.

Since Russia's illegal occupation of Crimea in 2014, Canada has imposed sanctions against more than 2,600 individuals and legal entities.

At the end of October, Canadian representatives at a meeting of advisers on national security and foreign policy proposed to create a coalition of countries that would facilitate the return of Ukrainian children deported by the aggressor country.

In September 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Canada for the first time since the beginning of the war.

It recently became known that Canada will allocate 1.3 billion Canadian dollars (over 947 million US dollars) to Ukraine for military aid. These funds will be accrued until 2026.

Since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, Canada has already provided almost $2 billion in defense aid to Ukraine.