Up to 225 Canadian soldiers will be deployed to the United Kingdom over the next few weeks to train new recruits to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. This is a continuation of Operation UNIFIER which was halted in early February, two weeks before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“The invasion has had a significant cost on the everyday life of Ukrainians and on the economy,” National Defense Minister Anita Anand said at a press conference on Thursday. According to the Toronto-area minister, the conflict has now entered a “very dangerous” new phase as Russian President Vladimir Putin tries to inflict long-term damage in Ukraine.
A maximum of three cohorts of Canadian Armed Forces members will be deployed for a period of approximately four months in south-east England. The soldiers will act primarily as instructors. The first group, largely from the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, Edmonton, will leave on August 12. He will join some 1,050 British soldiers, who have already been training Ukrainian soldiers since July.
According to British media, 10,000 Ukrainian recruits are expected in turn in the United Kingdom over the next few months. According to the Sky News network, several of the conscripts, aged between 18 and 60, had never touched a weapon before starting training. Minister Anand maintains that the initial deployment of four months is still sufficient to train these recruits. “It’s important to recognize that we are experts in training,” she says.
The Canadian Armed Forces have been training Ukrainian soldiers since 2015 as part of Operation UNIFIER. As of January 31, 2022, 33,346 Ukraine Security Forces candidates have participated in training, according to Canadian government data. The mission was extended three times; in January 2022, Ottawa elected to continue sending members of the Armed Forces until March 2025, before discontinuing the mission a month later.
Stormy background
The decision to send military instructors to England comes a few weeks after the Canadian government decided to send back to Germany turbines used to operate the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, owned by the Russian company Gazprom. The pipeline supplies Germany with Russian natural gas, but Russia is currently refusing to receive the part. Canada, on the other hand, exempted itself from its own sanctions by sending the turbines to Germany.
Minister Anand was repeatedly questioned about Canada’s level of solidarity with Ukraine, in light of the decision to return the play. “We continue to stand together,” assured Minister Anand on Thursday, who spoke to her Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksiy Reznikov, the same morning. Canada, she said, must balance support for the Ukrainian people with support for its European allies, such as Germany.
The Minister of National Defense continues to trust the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and his Minister of Defense, more than six months after the start of the invasion. According to New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, US officials are “much more worried” about leadership in Ukraine than they let on.
This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.