OTTAWA (NEWS1130) – Canada will send 200 military trainers to Ukraine, joining the US and Britain in an international effort to shore up the eastern European country’s battered and bloodied combat forces.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Defence Minister Jason Kenney announced the long-anticipated move Tuesday at National Defence headquarters.
The troops will join American and British soldiers early this summer, and the mission will last until March 31, 2017.
Harper says Canada’s latest military contribution addresses a number of requests from the government of Ukraine, is being provided to help the country in its efforts to maintain sovereignty, security and stability in the face of Russian aggression.
Most of the Canadian trainers are expected to be housed at an existing NATO training centre located in Yavoriv, in the western portion of the embattled European country, near the Polish border.
However, some instruction will also take place at the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence Demining Centre in Kamyanets-Podilsky, also in western Ukraine.