Canada sending four more battle tanks, ammunition to Ukraine
Posted February 24, 2023 2:02 pm.
Last Updated February 24, 2023 4:17 pm.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Friday that Canada is providing Ukraine with more weapons, which he said will help the country win on the battlefield against Russia.
Canada will donate four additional Leopard 2 main battle tanks to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine, growing Canada’s contribution to eight tanks in total, Trudeau said.
Canada will also donate an armoured recovery vehicle and over 5,000 rounds of ammunition.
New sanctions are being imposed on nearly 200 more people and entities that Trudeau said are complicit in Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine.
That includes Russian deputy prime ministers, ministers, members of the Russian military, those in production of artilleries and weapons used in Ukraine. It also includes others who have voted in favour of legislation related to the invasion and attempted annexation of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions of Ukraine.
Canada also announced it will ban certain chemicals used in the manufacturing of electronics from being exported to Russia.
The added support is on top of the $5 billion Canada has spent already to help Ukraine following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade one year ago.
“He is cowardly and he is weak. His brazen disregard for human life, his irresponsible rhetoric, and his willingness to inflict terrible violence on innocent people may seem to have no limits,” Trudeau said Friday at a press conference in Toronto, marking the one-year anniversary.
“But what is truly without limits is the courage and resolve of those who fight every day for their freedom.”
RELATED: Ukraine’s leader defiant on anniversary of Russian invasion
More weapons will allow Ukrainian people to regain their territory, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters in a press conference on Friday in Kyiv.
“We’re getting ready. We’re ready in spirit. And we’re getting ready as far as weapons are concerned, as far as forming attack brigades are concerned,” Zelenskyy said through a translator.
He praised those who have showed up for Ukraine including people who covered parts of the world in yellow and blue – the colours of Ukraine’s national flag.
That includes Canada. From coast to coast, thousands of Canadians were expected to take part in some 40 rallies in support of Ukraine, spearheaded by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress. Many of them were to be candlelight vigils in the early evening.
The year-long conflict has taken a deadly toll on the Ukrainian population, with tens of thousands of civilians killed and millions more displaced.
