Canada to provide weapons to Ukraine and expand medical training

Canada will provide Ukraine with AIM-9 missiles and will expand the group of medical trainers who conduct training for Ukrainian soldiers in Poland, Defense Minister Anita Anand announced on Thursday.

Canada to help in training Ukrainian military personnel

Canada will support Ukraine for as long and as much as necessary in its conflict with Russia, including the training of Ukrainian soldiers and...

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As the Canadian Armed Forces plan to send 43 air-to-air AIM-9 missiles to Ukraine, Anand stressed that this would help Ukraine's air defense against the ongoing Russian attacks.

In addition, Canada will send an additional five medical instructors to Poland as an expansion to the battlefield medicine training program operating from March this year.

Anand also informed that since mid-May, training for Ukrainian junior officers has been jointly conducted by Canadian and Latvian instructors as part of the UNIFIER operation in Latvia. Since 2015, when Canada began conducting military training for the Ukrainian army, more than 36,000 Ukrainian troops have taken part in them, including 2,400 trained after the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year.

“Canada’s support for Ukraine is unwavering. When I travel across Canada, I see Ukrainian flags on homes, small businesses, and cars - because Canadians understand that Ukraine’s fight to defend itself is also a fight for sovereignty, freedom, and independence. At today’s productive meeting, we discussed Ukraine’s most pressing defense priorities, and I reaffirmed that Canada will be there to support Ukraine in the short and the long term,” said Anand.

Canada has so far supplied machine guns, assault rifles, cleaning kits, and magazines to Ukraine. Some 1 million rounds of ammunition and 4,800 assault rifles will be delivered in the coming weeks. Before the summer the Ukrainian army will have received all 21,000 guns and 2.4 million rounds of ammunition.