Canada on Sunday moved its military troops to western Ukraine and announced the temporary repatriation of all non-essential employees stationed at its embassy in Kiev, due to tensions at the Russian-Ukrainian border.
Posted at 2:35 p.m.
Updated at 3:18 p.m.
“Our Canadian armed forces have moved west of the Dnieper River, and we will continue to take all necessary precautions to ensure their safety,” Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said on Sunday, arriving on the same day on the Ukrainian soil.
The minister gave an update on the tense situation between Ukraine and Russia at a press conference in Kiev, after meeting with the leaders of the Canadian military operation Unifier, aimed at supporting the Ukrainian security forces.
PHOTO UKRAINIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY PRESS SERVICE VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
Defense Minister Anita Anand arrived in Ukraine on Sunday.
“The intelligence that we use agrees with that of our NATO allies on the fact that – and it is well known – there is Russian aggression on the Ukrainian border in Belarus”, affirmed Anita Anand, once again putting more warned Russia that it would face “severe sanctions and consequences” if tensions were not de-escalated.
Canada currently has 900 troops “at sea, on land and in the air” to support the NATO mission in this context of geopolitical instability in Eastern Europe.
Russia has deployed more than 100,000 troops and heavy weapons near Ukraine’s borders, according to Western countries, which fear the possibility of an invasion.
Also on Sunday, days after withdrawing their family members, Ottawa announced the repatriation of non-essential diplomats working at its Ukrainian embassy.
Canada will bolster its embassy team in Kyiv “with officials with expertise in areas such as security sector reform, conflict management, democratic reform, consular services and diplomacy”, according to a communicated.
Although the Canadian embassy in Kyiv remains open, the Canadian government advises its citizens against traveling to Ukraine “due to the current threats from Russia and its military deployment in and around the country”.
The United States and the United Kingdom raised the threat of new sanctions against Russia on Sunday, as Washington and its NATO allies step up their efforts to dissuade Moscow from invading Ukraine, which itself has called on the neighboring country to withdraw its troops from the border and to dialogue.