OTTAWA (AP) – Canada is sending military instructors to the United Kingdom to teach Ukrainians how to fight invading Russian forces, Defense Minister Anita Anand said Wednesday.
Up to 225 members of the Canadian armed forces will eventually be based in the UK for an initial period of four months, Anand said. They will work alongside their counterparts from Britain, the Netherlands and New Zealand in training Ukrainian troops in the basics of military service.
A previous Canadian military training mission based in Ukraine was suspended just weeks before the invasion began.
That mission, which also included 225 Canadian military trainers, began in 2014 after Moscow annexed the Crimean peninsula and began supporting pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
The federal government says the mission, known as Operation Unifier, helped train more than 30,000 Ukrainian troops before all Canadian troops were withdrawn ahead of Russia’s attack.