Canada expands military training program for Ukrainians – Trudeau
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced increased support for Ukraine as part of efforts to train Ukrainian military personnel; he said it during a meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on 7 March.
Source: The Canadian Press news agency, as reported by European Pravda
Details: As Trudeau states, Canada will extend the duration of the Unifier engineering training mission in Ukraine until at least October 2023 and will also send instructors to train the Ukrainian military in combat medicine.
In particular, the Canadian government will provide US$3,000,000 to support the clearance of landmines and unexploded ordnance in Ukraine, in addition to the US$32,000,000 already allocated for mine defusing action. The European Union will provide €43,000,000 for the same purpose.
"Canada is already doing much more than it should, compared to others, and goes far beyond what is necessary. So, I want to thank Canada for that," von der Leyen said during a joint press conference with the Canadian prime minister.
The President of the European Commission added that Operation Unifier, which Canada initiated in Ukraine in 2015, influenced the first gains of the "much better trained" Ukrainian troops after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022.
Canada announced its intention to extend the Unifier training mission back in January. And in February, Trudeau announced that Ukraine would receive four more Leopard 2 tanks and additional 155mm ammunition as part of military aid from Canada.
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