Canada is extending Ukraine training mission to 2019

OTTAWA — The Liberal government is extending Canada’s military mission in Ukraine for another two years as it attempts to send a signal of continued solidarity with the eastern European country.

“Canada’s support for Ukraine is unwavering,” Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said during a news conference Monday with Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland.

“We will continue to provide critical military assistance to the end of March 2019. This assistance is crucial to ensure a sovereign, secure and stable Ukraine.”

Canada first deployed about 200 troops to Ukraine in the summer of 2015 to help train government forces after Russia annexed Crimea and began supporting separatist forces in Ukraine’s Donbass region.

But the mission, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau toured during a visit to the country in July, had been set to expire at the end of March.

The extension is sure to be welcomed by Canada’s large Ukrainian community, as well as the Ukrainian government, which had publicly appealed for continued Canadian support.

But the country has also repeatedly asked for anti-tank guns and other defensive weapons to help beat back the heavy military equipment that Russia has provided rebel forces in the Donbass.

It also wants Canada to resume providing satellite imagery, as the previous Conservative government had done. The Liberals stopped such information sharing after coming to power.

Sajjan described Canada’s support as a “work in progress,” noting it will be just as important to reform Ukraine’s military at the very highest levels.

“This is going to take not just a bottom-up approach, but it’s going to take a top-down approach as well,” he said.