(Ottawa) Ukrainian parliamentarians are calling on Canada to give their country the money it needs to buy weapons to fight the Russian invasion.
Updated yesterday at 7:25 p.m.
Ukrainian parliamentarians doubt that negotiations with Russia will lead to peace, and they believe that the only way to truly protect their country is to achieve military superiority on the ground.
Five Ukrainian parliamentarians made their appeal after meeting in person with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other government officials in a desperate bid to drum up more support for their beleaguered country.
Ukrainian parliamentarians listed three priority areas in which they said Ukraine needed more help: new sanctions against Russia, financial aid – and more weapons.
“Ukraine must win the war to drive Russian soldiers out of its territory. It’s our only option. To do this, Ukraine needs lethal weapons. Heavy weapons,” said Anastasia Radina, a member of the delegation.
Ukraine has given Canada a “comprehensive” list of military equipment the country urgently needs, Ms.me Radina, including heavy weaponry like tanks and air defenses.
“We cannot do this with guns, we must have heavy weapons to expel the Russians from our territory,” said Yevheniya Kravchuk, another member of the delegation.
“Because if we’re talking about ending this war, it means winning this war because other than that, [le président russe Vladimir] Putin will not stop,” she argued.
Canada has sent several tranches of military equipment to Ukraine, including anti-tank weapons, since the first attack by Russian forces in late February.
But Defense Minister Anita Anand said the stock of available Canadian Armed Forces equipment is now depleted. Mr. Trudeau and Mr.me Anand claimed that the government was considering buying off-the-shelf weapons for Ukraine instead.
The Ukrainian delegation said that it is possible to purchase the necessary weapons from European countries. That is why she is calling on the Liberal government to provide funds for this purpose in next week’s federal budget.
“On funds to buy weapons, that’s one of the requests we made,” said Mr.me Radina. And I hope we have delivered the sense of urgency of this request. »
The delegation warned of delays caused by “bureaucratic decision-making”, saying weapons are needed immediately.
The parliamentarians also called on Canada to provide direct financial assistance to the Kyiv government, which they say is struggling to make ends meet due to the economic damage caused by the Russian invasion.
The International Monetary Fund released 1.4 billion in emergency funds to Ukraine last month to deal with “substantial” economic damage caused by the war, which has killed thousands of soldiers and civilians.
“We are not only seeking support from the International Monetary Fund, but we are seeking direct funding for our state budget,” said delegation chair Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze.
Ukrainian parliamentarians said they made their appeal for Canada’s help during a meeting Thursday with Trudeau and Ukrainian-born Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, who is also Canada’s finance minister.
“We are inspired by the courageous people of Ukraine and their formidable fight against Putin’s barbaric invasion,” said the spokeswoman for Ms.me Freeland, Adrienne Vaupshas, in a statement.
“As we have said since the start of this war, all options are on the table to ensure the failure of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” she added.
On Friday, Trudeau spoke with cabinet ministers and senior officials at an Incident Response Group meeting about the war in Ukraine.
“The Prime Minister and Ministers discussed the humanitarian, financial and military assistance Canada has provided to Ukraine to date. They considered different options to continue to meet Ukraine’s changing needs in the face of ongoing Russian aggression,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement about the meeting.
Mme Kravchuk told reporters that an air raid siren sounded on his phone during the delegation’s meeting with the prime minister.
“It meant that in the neighborhood where my eight-year-old daughter lives, there was an attempted airstrike and my daughter had to go [se réfugier] in the basement instead of going to school,” she said.
At least 148 children have been killed in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion, she said, adding that the true number is likely much higher.
Delegates also accused President Vladimir Putin, the Russian government and military of perpetrating war crimes and thanked Canada for asking the International Criminal Court to investigate.