(OTTAWA) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada will try to assist Canadians who left to fight alongside the Ukrainians if things go wrong for them, but says it will be difficult to do so.
Posted at 1:21 p.m.
“We will always be there to try to help Canadians, but what we have said from the beginning is that Canadians should leave Ukraine because we will be very limited in our ability to help them,” said he said Wednesday in response to a journalist’s question, at a press briefing in the Ontario region of Waterloo.
Mr. Trudeau said he was aware that some had decided, on an individual basis, to lend a hand to Ukrainian troops in the face of the Russian invasion.
The Prime Minister reiterated in the same breath that Ottawa is busy sending heavy artillery to Ukraine, as announced the day before. He did not provide further information on the planned shipments and their timing.
“I can’t share the details of what we’re going to do for operational security reasons, but I can assure you we’ll be talking about it in the coming days once everything is safe and delivered. “, he replied when pressed with questions on the subject.
Trudeau said he’s sure people understand that Canada needs to be “cautious” about what information is released when it comes to “sending military equipment in the context of an illegal Russian-led war.” “.
He said Canada has been responding to each of Ukraine’s specific requests since the war began in February, including the most recent for heavy artillery.
The Prime Minister took part in a virtual meeting hosted by US President Joe Biden on Tuesday with leaders of NATO and the European Union. There was talk of supporting the Ukrainian people.
In the 2022 budget presented by the Trudeau government earlier this month, $500 million is set aside to provide additional military aid to Ukraine during the current year.