The Canadian federal government announced on the sidelines of the NATO summit that it plans to provide an additional $500 million in military aid to Ukraine this year.
The announcement late Wednesday capped a day in which the 32-nation alliance clearly felt the political pressure of the war going wrong.
NATO has officially declared that Eastern European countries are on an “irreversible” path to membership, providing long-needed commitment and reassurance.
The additional funding comes on top of an estimated $4 billion in arms and ammunition already pledged and donated by Canada, and follows bilateral talks between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a summit in Washington.
The bulk of the funding will go towards a 40 billion euro NATO-led programme aimed at providing stable funding and predictable military support to the war-torn country.
The NATO alliance has pledged long-term, ongoing support for Ukraine through a $43 billion U.S. military aid package. Aleksandra Tschy, chair of the Ukrainian-Canadian Council, said the package was welcome news, but Ukraine needs more support from its allies at a faster pace.
At the same time, Canada announced it would expand training for Ukrainian pilots learning to fly Western military aircraft.
The federal government has previously poured tens of millions of dollars into the training, but a senior federal official speaking privately Wednesday said Canada will take a more active role in the exercise, which will be led in part by the private sector.
Last winter, Defence Minister Bill Blair pledged $75 million in two separate announcements, with $15 million of that going to pay the salaries of civilian pilot instructors at Montreal-based Top Aces.
The United States, the Netherlands and Denmark announced on Wednesday that the first NATO-provided F-16 fighter jets will be delivered to Ukrainian military pilots by this summer.
Canada does not operate U.S.-made fighter jets, but they are used by Top Ace, a private company that offers a wide range of fighter jet training.
Zelensky posted on X About his gratitude The move is part of an effort to bolster Ukraine’s air force, coming shortly after it suffered one of the deadliest attacks of the war.
Allies have been discussing behind closed doors for weeks the wording for the summit’s overall declaration on Ukraine and its eventual membership.
The United States and several other countries have opposed Ukraine’s membership to avoid escalating tensions that could lead to a larger war amid its ongoing conflict with Russia, and have stressed that Ukraine needs to take significant steps to tackle corruption and other institutional reforms.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stressed that Ukraine would not join the alliance immediately, but should join after the war is over to prevent Russia from attacking Ukraine again.
Regarding NATO’s overall support, he said, “We are not supporting this because we want to prolong the war. We are supporting this because we want to end it as quickly as possible.”
