Troops leave Edmonton for mission in Ukraine

Task is preparing soldiers to take on separatist forces With the hum of the Airbus CC150 engines in the background, 3rd Canadian Division commander Brig.-Gen. Simon Hetherington reminded troops deploying to Ukraine on Friday of the importance of their training mission.

The 120 Edmonton-based soldiers will spend the next six months in the west of the country training Ukrainian soldiers in preparation for their fight against Russian-backed separatists in the east of the country as part of a conflict that has been raging since the middle of 2014.

“What skills you’ve supplied them with will save their lives,” Hetherington said just before the troops boarded the plane.

Around 2,600 Ukrainian troops have rotated through a training program designed to professionalize the Ukrainian armed forces and enhance their capabilities across a “wide spectrum of operations,” including everything from weapons training to combat first aid and communications.

Hetherington said the mission is “incredibly important.”

“They’ve got an armed forces that has been decimated over a number of years of neglect in terms of funding and age and time, so we are helping rebuild their armed forces,” he said.

“The challenge to this is they are rebuilding it while in combat in the east of the country.”

Outbound deputy commanding officer Maj. Alex Nitu said the aim of the mission is to enable the Ukrainian military to become self-sufficient in delivering its own training programs.

Nitu said the mission is being well-received by the Ukrainian military.

“The idea is we are going to work ourselves out of a job in all these things because they are going to become self-sufficient,” he said.

“(We are) building skill sets and professionalizing their force and getting to a point where they are institutionally capable of delivering all the training they require to themselves.”

What skills you’ve supplied them with will save their lives.