A senior Ukrainian government official is urging Canada to strengthen its support for the Eastern European country as it faces a renewed threat from Russian forces along its border.
Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said Sunday that the country needs additional assistance to defend itself as Russia concentrates troops and military equipment near Ukraine.
He warned that Russia’s actions threaten the peace and security not only of Ukraine but of the entire world and could trigger a war unless swift action is taken.
“If we don’t stop (Russian President Vladimir Putin) now, then a third world war is coming,” Danilov said in an interview through a translator. “Not a cold war, a hot war.”
His remarks at the Halifax International Security Forum come as Ukraine seeks greater support from its allies amid Russia’s growing presence near the Ukraine border, as well as membership in the NATO alliance.
Canada currently operates a training mission in Ukraine that will run until the end of March 2022.
Danilov said he is confident that Canada will renew its mission and hopes that cooperation between the countries will improve.
What people are reading
“We are negotiating an expansion of such programs and trying to improve cooperation as much as possible,” he said. “We are here to get this additional help.”
What could complicate Canada’s ongoing operations in Ukraine is a recent report that found far-right radicals in the Ukrainian military bragging on social media that they received training from the Canadian Armed Forces.
The George Washington University study in Washington, DC, found that Centuria members have accessed training from Canada, among other NATO countries, and participated in joint military exercises.
A senior Ukrainian official says more support is needed as Russia concentrates troops near the border. #Russia #Ukraine
Centuria is a group that has ties to far-right movements, reveres Nazi figures and aims to protect what it calls the “ethnic identity” of Europe, according to the report by the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies.
Roman Mashovets, senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on security and defense issues, said the Ukrainian government is concerned about the issue and is monitoring it closely.
He said Ukraine has carried out its own investigation, to be published soon, which uncovered a misunderstanding involving a student movement, one that was never formally connected to Centuria.
“They created a kind of secret community … that had no connection to a far-right movement,” said Mashovets, deputy director of the President’s Office of Ukraine for National Security and Defense.
Meanwhile, he said Ukraine would like to see the scale of Canada’s mission in the country increase and expand beyond infantry training.
Mashovets also reiterated Ukraine’s desire to become a member of NATO.
This Canadian Press report was first published on November 21, 2021.
Reference-www.nationalobserver.com