Ottawa pledges $32M for Ukraine's 'security and stabilization' as one year since invasion is marked

The federal government announced Friday it will provide Ukraine with more than $32 million to strengthen the country's security and stabilization, as it marks one year since Russia's invasion.

"For an entire year, Canada and the international community have rallied like never before to support Ukraine's resilience in the face of President [Vladimir] Putin's aggressions," said Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly in a statement.

"Canada's support for Ukraine's sovereignty is unwavering. We will not stand down until Russia is held accountable for its crimes," she said.

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In the statement provided exclusively to CTV News, Global Affairs Canada said "Canada has been steadfast in its commitment to support Ukraine's security and resilience and to hold Russia accountable for its atrocities and crimes."

The $32 million includes $7.5 million for demining efforts, more than $13 million for accountability efforts that include addressing conflict-related sexual violence, and over $12 million to "counter chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats," it said.

About $9.7 million of the funding is a part of a previous announcement made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau while at the G7 Summit in June 2022 for demining and accountability projects in Ukraine. At the time, Trudeau pledged $151.7 million in aid for Ukraine, the majority of which ($75 million) was for humanitarian assistance.

Canada has announced more than $5 billion in support for Ukraine since February last year, according to Global Affairs. About $2.6 billion of those funds went to financial aid, and another $1.2 billion was earmarked for military assistance. The remaining funds went to humanitarian aid ($320 million), development assistance ($96 million) and security and stabilization progprogramming3.8 million).

"The relationship between the Ukrainian government and Canada, and indeed all allies and partners, has become increasingly strong," Minister of National Defence Anita Anand told CTV's Your Morning on Friday. "We are there in the long and the short term with Ukraine.”

Anand referenced the $5 billion in funding saying Canada stands "strongly with Ukraine until it wins this unjustified and illegal war."

The minister also said Canada will ensure Ukrainian forces have proper equipment for the foreseeable future.

"At the beginning, we were providing sniper rifles, Carl-Gustaf anti-tank weapon systems, food packs, fragmentation vests, winter clothing," she said. "Now we are moving into heavier artillery and Triple-7, four Leopard 2A4 tanks and that's because we need to ensure that Ukraine has the equipment it needs to fight and win this war."

Last week, Joly made a two-day visit to Ukraine ahead of the anniversary and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss "crimes against humanity, war crimes, the crime of aggression, and also sexual violence related crimes," she said at a press conference in Krakow, Poland on Feb. 16.

Andriy Kostin, Ukraine's general prosecutor, told Joly that 60,000 war crimes had been identified so far.

Joly said at the press conference Canada had joined a "core group of countries" that believes there should be a special tribunal on Russia's "crimes of aggression."

When asked if Ottawa will continue to provide a sustained level of financial support for the length of the war, Trudeau said Thursday Canada "will continue to do whatever is necessary to ensure that Russia does not benefit from having illegally invaded Ukraine."

 

With files from CTV News Channel's Senior Political Correspondent Mike Le Couteur, Senior Digital Parliamentary Reporter Rachel Aiello, and The Canadian Press