Ottawa announced on Sunday that it will ship $25 million worth of combat protective equipment to Ukraine.
“And let it be clear that we are going to send more,” said Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly at a press conference.
Ms. Joly said the Ukrainian government has requested Canada’s assistance for equipment such as gas masks and combat helmets to protect its soldiers.
She said she worked with her Polish counterpart to ensure that equipment can use transport routes to the Ukrainian border so that it arrives at its destination as soon as possible.
Earlier Sunday, federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra also announced that Canadian airspace was closed to Russian planes.
The measure is effective immediately.
“All of Canada feels the same outrage at President Putin’s aggression against Ukraine. In response, we closed Canadian airspace to aircraft owned or operated by Russian interests, Alghabra said in a statement. The Government of Canada condemns Russia’s aggressive actions and will continue to take action to stand in solidarity with Ukraine. »
Several countries, including the UK, Poland, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic have suspended Aeroflot’s operator license.
In retaliation, Russia has banned commercial flights from these countries.
The main Russian airline, Aeroflot, does not fly directly to Canada. However, it uses Canadian airspace for many flights to the United States and beyond. According to experts, this ban could harm him greatly.
This decision is in addition to the numerous sanctions imposed on Russia since it attacked Ukraine on Thursday. These measures also personally affected Russian President Vladimir Putin, dozens of politicians, oligarchs and businesses.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, US President Joe Biden and several other European leaders indicated that allied countries were preparing to exclude several Russian banks from the international financial system. Japan has announced its intention to follow suit.
They also want to impose restrictive measures on the Russian Central Bank in order to prevent it from deploying its international reserves in a way likely to lessen the effect of these sanctions.
“As Russian forces unleash their assaults on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, we are determined to continue to exact a heavy price from Russia, in order to further isolate it from the international financial system and our economies. said the leaders.