(Ottawa) Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly has accused Russia of trying to escalate the crisis with the West by bombing a daycare center in eastern Ukraine.
Updated yesterday at 7:56 p.m.
Canada strongly condemns unprovoked Russian military activity in Ukraine’s Donbass region, Melanie Joly said in a written statement Thursday evening. “Innocent civilians have been put at risk by this overt Russian effort to escalate the crisis. We commend the restraint shown by Ukraine,” she added.
Ukraine’s military command said shells hit a daycare center in Stanytsia Luhanska, wounding two educators and knocking out electricity to half the town. Ukraine accused the separatists of shelling its troops, but said they did not retaliate.
“We will continue to work with our allies to coordinate our responses to deter further Russian aggression. Any new military incursion into Ukraine will have serious consequences, including coordinated sanctions,” said Mr.me Pretty.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Twitter that the shelling “by pro-Russian forces is a big provocation”.
Defense Minister Anita Anand emerged from two days of meetings at NATO headquarters on Thursday reassuring her colleagues of Canada’s commitment, but without further promises of reinforcements to protect Europe’s allies from Russia. from the east.
Mme Rather, Anand suggested that the ability of the Canadian Armed Forces to deploy additional troops and equipment to Eastern Europe was limited due to its many other commitments at home and around the world.
“The problem is that Canada and the Canadian Armed Forces are deployed in several regions at the same time,” she said Thursday in Brussels. And what we’re doing now is looking at ways in which Canada can strengthen its presence in the region from an operational perspective. »
The minister was also evasive when asked about the timeline for such a move, saying she was in talks with Chief of Staff General Wayne Eyre and other senior officials. of the defense. She simply indicated that “we will be able to make firm decisions in the short term”.
Mme Anand was speaking at the end of a press conference in Brussels, where defense ministers from the 30 countries of the transatlantic alliance have been seized over the past two days by the recent massive military deployment of Russian troops around the Ukraine and the threat of a new war on European soil.
The end of the meeting coincided with a resurgence of fears of conflict, as US President Joe Biden warned that Russia could invade Ukraine within days, and violence escalated further in eastern Ukraine.
Speaking at the White House, Biden said Washington had seen no sign of a promised Russian withdrawal, adding that the threat of invasion remained “very high” because Russia has moved more than troops towards the Ukrainian border instead of withdrawing them.
What withdrawal?
Mr. Biden also told reporters on Thursday that the United States had “reason to believe” that Moscow was “engaged in a ‘false flag operation’, in order to have an excuse to enter Ukraine”, but he did not provide further details.
Russia is said to have gathered some 150,000 troops and military equipment around Ukraine’s borders. The Kremlin assures that Russia has no intention of invading, but has asked NATO to withdraw its troops from Eastern Europe and promise never to admit Ukraine into the military alliance.
Mme Anand joined President Biden and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in rejecting Moscow’s claims that Russia was pulling troops from the border with Ukraine.
Minister Anand did not hold back from blaming Moscow for the current crisis, as she assured Canada’s continued solidarity with Ukraine and NATO, including its easternmost members , bordering Russia.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced this week that Canada is providing a $500 million loan and providing $7.8 million in arms and ammunition to Ukraine.
Yet while other NATO members have deployed additional troops to bolster the alliance’s presence in Eastern Europe, Canada has not, despite requests from some countries for reinforcements. including Latvia.
A question of capacity
Minister Anand pointed out Thursday that Canada already has 540 soldiers leading a battle group in Latvia, whose ranks include troops and military equipment from nine other NATO member countries, with the main task of protect against a Russian attack.
“This is our largest international military operation,” she said. And at today’s (Thursday) meeting, I reiterated our commitment to continue to strengthen the security of the eastern flank of the alliance as a whole. »
Mme Anand acknowledged that NATO members like Latvia, whose government has publicly called for reinforcements, would like to see more Canadian aid, but the minister said the issue is one of Canadian Armed Forces capability.
“The world wants more of Canada and would like to see a Canadian presence not just on the eastern flank, but in other jurisdictions and countries,” she said. What we’re doing at Defense right now is responding to our ability to continue supplying to multiple locations. »
Improving Canada’s presence in Eastern Europe, she added, “is high on my list of priorities.” However, M.me Anand said she wouldn’t be in a hurry and was “rather very methodical and very careful” before a decision was made.
The Canadian Armed Forces say they have approximately 2,000 personnel deployed in 20 different operations in Canada and around the world. These include major deployments in Iraq and the Middle East, Ukraine, and on ships in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
The military also provided support to Canadian provinces during the COVID-19 pandemic, even as it struggled to recruit and train new members — and is even releasing hundreds of soldiers who refused to leave. to get vaccinated.
The armed forces were expected to number about 100,000 soldiers in total, but were short by about 10,000 members at the end of November; Another 10,000 service members were listed as unavailable for duty because they were not properly trained or were ill or injured.