(Ottawa) Canada has no intention of sending combat troops to Ukraine, the Trudeau government has ruled, the day after a shock statement from French President Emmanuel Macron.
The office of the Minister of National Defense, Bill Blair, was unequivocal on Tuesday.
“We will continue to provide the military assistance that Ukraine needs, but as a member of NATO, Canada does not intend to deploy combat troops in Ukraine,” assured his attaché. press, Diana Ebadi, in an email.
Minister Blair participated on Monday in the conference in support of Ukraine which was organized by French President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée.
It was on this occasion that the head of state made remarks which caused a shock wave in the capitals of Ukraine’s allied countries, and which caused the Kremlin to react.
While recognizing that there was “no consensus today to send ground troops in an official, assumed and endorsed manner”, Emmanuel Macron then argued that nothing was excluded.
« Beaucoup de gens qui disent “Jamais, jamais” aujourd’hui étaient les mêmes qui disaient “Jamais des tanks, jamais des avions, jamais des missiles à longue portée” il y a deux ans », a-t-il aussi affirmé.
Le Canada participe à l’effort de guerre ukrainien en fournissant de l’aide financière et militaire à Kyiv.
Il contribue aussi en formant les soldats ukrainiens dans le cadre de l’opération Unifier, a quant à elle rappelé la vice-première ministre Chrystia Freeland.
PHOTO ADRIAN WYLD, LA PRESSE CANADIENNE
La vice-première ministre Chrystia Freeland
« Nos soldats sont en Pologne, et ils travaillent directement avec les soldats [ukrainiens] “, she pleaded at a press conference in Ottawa.
And besides, NATO is not there, noted former Defense Minister Anita Anand.
“NATO leader Jens Stoltenberg said – and I agree with him – that now is not the time to do this,” she stressed in the press scrum.
“But we must be with Ukraine in the short and long term,” she continued.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited the Ukrainian capital on Saturday, as it marked two years since the start of the large-scale Russian invasion.
A cooperation agreement between Canada and Ukraine was announced as part of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to the country.
Financial and military support of some $3 billion will be offered by Canada as part of this commitment.
With Agence France-Presse