Outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged the education plan in mid-June during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv. Up to 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers are expected to fly to the UK for basic and specialist military courses lasting five weeks. The first batch of Ukrainian recruits arrived and instruction began in early July. Three sources familiar with the file but not authorized to speak publicly told CBC News that Canada intends to contribute to the British-led effort. Defense Minister Anita Anand is expected to make an official announcement today. The plan amounts to the restart of Operation Unifer, the long-running training mission that had — until it was suspended last winter — more than 35,000 Ukrainian soldiers receiving advanced combat training from Canadian soldiers. That mission, conducted on Ukrainian soil, was halted and troops withdrawn from the eastern European country in mid-February, on the eve of a full-scale Russian invasion. It involved about 200 soldiers and included a corps. Two of the three sources said the latest initiative with the British “will be about the same number”. A third source was more specific, saying the new program would include three training groups of about 60 members each, plus additional administrative staff. The Ukrainian government has repeatedly pressed Canada to resume training in a third country, said diplomatic sources, who spoke separately to CBC News and spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the record. The Liberal government has made the training mission, which began under the former Conservative government, a point of pride and has often been pointed to as evidence of Canada’s commitment to Ukraine’s security.
Trudeau left the door open to joining the UK effort
Asked about Johnson’s training plan at the end of the NATO summit in June, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau left the door open for participation. “Canada will continue to look for opportunities to continue to support Ukraine in a variety of ways,” he said. “We have been actively training the howitzers that we did in Latvia [and] we are looking for other ways to be useful.” The prime minister was referring to training that took place last spring after Canada donated four of the military’s M-777 howitzers to Ukraine. Before the outbreak of full-scale war in Ukraine, Britain separately helped train Ukrainian forces between 2015 and 2022 under the banner of Operation Orbital, deploying around 22,000 troops to their programme. He also withdrew when Moscow launched its so-called special military operation to topple the government in Kyiv. When the UK launched its new training program in early July, it invited allies to join. In addition to Canada’s progress, another undisclosed Commonwealth country is expected to join the effort. British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace visited one of the training sites after the first recruits arrived and praised the initiative. “Using the world-class expertise of the British military we will help Ukraine rebuild its forces and scale up its resistance as it defends its country’s sovereignty and its right to choose its future,” Wallace was quoted as saying by British media. information.
