DEVELOPING Latest updates on the major wildfires burning in Canada
The 2024 wildfire season has begun, and it's shaping up to follow last year's unprecedented destruction in kind, with thousands of square kilometres already consumed.
The leaders of five European Union countries urged their neighbours and allies Wednesday to ramp up military support for Ukraine, while the bloc's defence ministers debated ways to help meet the war-ravaged country's ammunition shortfall.
In their appeal, the leaders of the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany and the Netherlands warned that Europe's security is tied to the fighting that started almost two years ago with Russia's invasion of its neighbour.
"Our ability to continue to support and sustain Ukraine's defence, both during the winter and in the longer term, is decisive," they wrote in the Financial Times newspaper. "In fact, it is a matter of our common European security."
With neither Russian nor Ukrainian troops demonstrating an advantage in the drawn-out conflict, fears are growing that public support for Ukraine's war effort is waning. EU and NATO leaders, who are among Ukraine's main backers, have shifted from praising the country's battlefield gains to celebrating its ability to survive against a more powerful enemy.
The prospect of Donald Trump returning to the White House after the U.S. presidential election in November is also driving leaders and military officers to demand that Europe must do more to defend itself. During his last term, Trump undermined confidence among NATO allies that the U.S. would back them in a security crisis.
In the Financial Times, the five leaders said it was vital to speed up arms deliveries up given that the war was unlikely to end soon.
"Russia doesn't wait for anybody, and we need to act now. If Ukraine loses, the long-term consequences and costs will be much higher for all of us," they wrote. "We Europeans have a special responsibility. Therefore, we must act. Europe's future depends on it."
According to EU estimates, Ukraine was firing around 4,000 to 7,000 artillery shells each day last summer, while Russia was launching more than 20,000 shells a day in its neighbour's territory. Russia's arms industry far outweighs Ukraine's, and Kyiv has relied on Western help to match Moscow's firepower.
Yet the 27-nation EU's plans to produce 1 million artillery rounds for Ukraine have fallen short, with only about a third of the target met. Senior EU officials have said they now expect the European defence industry to be capable of producing around 1 million shells annually by the end of this year.
But the shells will not arrive quickly. NATO's procurement agency said last week that delivery of ammunition orders can take anywhere from 24 to 36 months. Even the five leaders conceded that deliveries could take a year.
"What is urgent today is to provide the ammunition and weapon systems, including howitzers, tanks, UAVs and air defence, that Ukraine so urgently needs on the ground. Now," they wrote.
EU defence ministers meeting in Brussels on Wednesday discussed ways to further boost production.
While not targeted by the five leaders, France has been accused of failing to provide sufficient support given its size and military weight. Still, on Jan. 18, France announced more planned deliveries of its Caesar artillery system to Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron is due to travel to Ukraine in coming weeks.
Asked Tuesday about doubts over future U.S. support for Ukraine, Macron said, "I am convinced that the next few months are decisive." He stressed that he thinks Ukraine is mainly a European issue.
"Ukraine is on European soil. It is a European country. And if we want a peaceful and stable Europe, we need to be credible in terms of our own security and defence vis-a-vis all our neighbours," the French leader said during a trip to Sweden.
EU leaders are set to gather over dinner later Wednesday to discuss their support for Ukraine. They have a Thursday summit scheduled on overcoming Hungary's veto of a long-term financial aid package worth 50-billion-euro ($54 billion) to help prop-up the Ukrainian economy.
Political infighting also is holding up additional U.S. support for Ukraine.
------
Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.
The 2024 wildfire season has begun, and it's shaping up to follow last year's unprecedented destruction in kind, with thousands of square kilometres already consumed.
Veteran TSN broadcaster Darren 'Dutch' Dutchyshen, one of Canada’s best-known sports journalists, has died. He was 57. His family says 'he passed as he was surrounded by his closest loved ones.'
A ‘lifetime of abuse’ led Dallas Ly to snap and repeatedly stab his mother inside their Leslieville apartment in 2022 but he never intended to kill her, his defence lawyers argued during at his murder trial in Toronto on Thursday.
A burgeoning track star says his dream of going to the Olympics is being derailed by a deportation order after Immigration officials rejected his family’s claim for asylum
A father has been charged with second-degree murder in the stabbing death of his 34-year-old daughter in southern Quebec.
A medical examiner says a Massachusetts teen who participated in a spicy tortilla chip challenge died from ingesting a substance 'with a high capsaicin concentration.'
A Montreal father who kidnapped his daughter who has autism and lied to police when they asked where she was should serve three years in prison, a Crown prosecutor said.
The province’s health minister and solicitor general are urging Toronto to rescind its request to decriminalize simple possession of small amounts of drugs for personal use, calling the proposal 'misguided' and 'disastrous.'
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he has "issues" with the Progressive Conservative government of New Brunswick.
A Starbucks fan — whose name is Winter — is visiting Canada on a purposeful journey that began with a random idea at one of the coffee chain's stores in Texas.
Members of Piapot First Nation, students from the University of Winnipeg and various other professionals are learning new techniques that will hopefully be used for ground searches of potential unmarked grave sites in the future.
ALS patient Mathew Brown said he’s hopeful for future ALS patients after news this week of research at Western University of a potential cure for ALS.
When Adam Kirschner wrote 'Slap Shot,' he never imagined the song would be embraced by his favourite team.
A team is ready to help an entangled North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
A $200 reward is being offered by a North Vancouver family for the safe return of their beloved chicken, Snowflake.
Two daughters and a mother were reunited online 40 years later thanks to a DNA kit and a Zoom connection despite living on three separate continents and speaking different languages.
Mother's Day can be a difficult occasion for those who have lost or are estranged from their mom.
YES Theatre Young Company opened its acclaimed kids’ show, One Small Step, at Sudbury Theatre Centre on Saturday.