There are no good solutions to the Ukrainian crisis. But there are bad ones. Failure to arm the country of Volodymyr Zelensky to the height of the challenge it must overcome would be one of them.
That is why it is encouraging to see that we are starting to work together to ship a sufficient number of battle tanks to Ukraine.
Canada was among the Western allies who lobbied Germany to give the go-ahead for the delivery of Leopard 2 heavy tanks, which it is producing. It is to be congratulated.
The Canadian government also says it is evaluating whether it can deliver Leopard 2s to Ukraine itself. That, on the other hand, is something to be wary of.
Let’s start by recapping everything that has just changed in the space of 24 hours.
The German government has announced that it will ship 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. It has also let it be known that it authorizes its allies who possess them to deliver them to the Ukrainian military.
Other countries such as Poland and Finland had already expressed interest. That means more announcements should follow.
At the same time, US President Joe Biden announced the dispatch of 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine.
Like Germany, the United States dithered for a long time. Before we face the facts: the courage and bravery of the Ukrainians will not be enough to defeat the Russian forces.
And Canada?
Justin Trudeau said he has no announcement to make at this time. He hopes “to have more to share in the coming days”. However, a government source told our journalist Mélanie Marquis that Canada might be tempted to deliver “less than 10 tanks” to Ukraine.
But let’s face it: there is reason to be skeptical about the idea of sending our own Leopard 2 tanks.
It should be noted that such a donation could “compromise the training and operational capacity of the Canadian Armed Forces, given the very limited number that our country has”, according to the Conference of Canadian Defense Associations.
The Canadian army has 112 Leopard 2 type tanks. In Ottawa, it is specified that 82 are combat tanks. There are also 30 “engineering and recovery vehicles to provide mobility support to the combat vehicle fleet”. In total, only 40 would be ready for field use immediately.
However, there are more than 2000 Leopard 2 tanks distributed in various European countries currently, including 247 only in Poland, close to Ukraine. And more than 300 in Germany, but also in Greece and Spain.
Other countries are therefore better placed than us to respond to this request. Both because of their proximity and because they wouldn’t have to weaken their defense capability.
Offering a few dozen combat tanks will not be very painful for the United States either. They have several thousand M1 Abrams tanks.
Canada has already donated hundreds of millions of dollars worth of military equipment to Ukraine.
Only since the beginning of January 2023, Ottawa has announced the dispatch of 200 armored personnel carriers and an air defense system. This system will be purchased in the United States, because there is not even one here for our soldiers.
Here we touch on the heart of the problem.
After years of underinvestment in defence, Canada is ill-equipped. Its room for maneuver is practically nil. And he can’t even upgrade his own equipment in a timely manner.
If he gave his battle tanks to the Ukraine, in how many years would we be able to replace them?
An eternity, if we rely, among other things, on the waltz-hesitation as to the replacement of our fighter planes.
The Canadian government would therefore have every advantage in offering something other than its tanks to Ukraine, which also has other needs. Unless he can guarantee that, by some miracle, he could quickly replace them!