Canada’s defense minister joined top military and defense leaders from 40 countries at Germany’s Ramstein air base to work out ways to sustain military help for Ukraine.
The meeting was agreed upon by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Anand says Canada will continue to not only send weapons from the inventory of the Canadian Armed Forces, but is also moving to enter into contracts with defense suppliers for weaponry for Ukraine.
For example, she says Canada is providing cameras for drones that are being used in combat right now and will be sending armored vehicles to Ukraine as well.
The longer Ukraine’s army fends off the invading Russians, the more it absorbs the advantages of Western weaponry and training — exactly the transformation President Vladimir Putin wanted to prevent by invading in the first place.
The list of arms flowing to Ukraine is long and growing longer.
It includes new American battlefield aerial drones and the most modern US and Canadian artillery, anti-tank weapons from Norway and others, armored vehicles and anti-ship missiles from Britain and Stinger counter-air missiles from the US, Denmark and other countries.
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If Ukraine can hold off the Russians, its accumulating arsenal of Western weapons could have a transformative effect in a country that has, like other former Soviet republics, relied mainly on arms and equipment from the Soviet era.
But sustaining that military aid won’t be easy. It is costly and, for some supplier nations, politically risky. It also is being taken out of Western stockpiles that at some point will need to be replenished.
After the meeting, Austin told a news conference at Ramstein that Germany had agreed to send 50 Cheetah anti-aircraft weapons to Ukraine and that the meeting had served to unify the West’s efforts to help Ukraine “win today and build strength for tomorrow.”
Putin gets what he didn’t want: Ukraine army closer to West. #UkraineRussia #UkraineInvasion #ukraineconflict
He said the participating nations had agreed to continue similar consultations through monthly meetings, either in person or virtually.
Austin added — “We’ve got to move at the speed of war.”