Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Ukraine won support Tuesday from Baltic nations and Poland in its quest to obtain Western fighter jets, but there were no signs that larger nations like the U.S. and Britain have changed their stance of refusing to provide warplanes to Kyiv after almost a year of battling Russia's invading forces.
"Ukraine needs fighter jets ... missiles, tanks. We need to act," Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said in the Latvian capital of Riga at a news conference with his Baltic and Polish colleagues. Those countries, which lie on NATO's eastern flank, feel especially threatened by Russia and have been the leading advocates for providing military aid.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov held talks with his French counterpart, saying they did not discuss specific fighter jets, but they did talk about aviation "platforms" to help Ukraine's ground-to-air defence.
"I don't know how quick it will be, this response from Western allies" to Kyiv's requests for fighter jets, Reznikov said. "I'm optimistic and I think it will be as soon as possible."
He also listed weapons Ukraine has sought in the past year, starting with Stingers, and said the first response was always, "Impossible." Eventually though, he said, "it became possible."
French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu, speaking with Reznikov, said there are "no taboos" on sending fighter jets. He also confirmed France is sending 12 more Caesar cannons in the coming weeks.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that France doesn't exclude sending fighter jets but set out conditions before such a step is taken, including not leading to an escalation of tensions or using the aircraft "to touch Russian soil," and not resulting in weakening "the capacities of the French army."
Reznikov's trip came a week after Western nations pledged to send Kyiv sophisticated modern tanks.
Several Western leaders have expressed concern that providing warplanes could escalate the conflict and draw them in deeper.
The U.K. government, among Kyiv's staunchest supporters and military suppliers, said sending its fighter jets is "not practical." Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesman, Max Blain, said Tuesday that "the U.K.'s Typhoon and F-35 fighter jets are extremely sophisticated and take months to learn how to fly," although he didn't say London was opposed to other nations sending planes.
Asked Monday if his administration was considering sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, U.S. President Joe Biden responded, "No."
On Tuesday, Reznikov was asked if Biden's "no" to F-16s was the final word.
"All types of help first passed through the 'no' stage," he said. "Which only means `no' at today's given moment. The second stage is, 'Let's talk and study technical possibilities.' The third stage is, 'Let's get your personnel trained.' And the fourth stage is the transfer (of equipment)."
Reznikov said Ukraine went through those stages before it got the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, the Bradley armoured vehicles and 155mm artillery.
"Remember the story of the German Leopards -- the answer was also 'no,"' he added. "And now we have a tank coalition. Therefore I believe an airplane coalition is within reach. But first there should always be a leader. And that's why I'm here."
Kyiv has repeatedly urged allies to send jets, calling them essential to challenging Russia's air superiority and ensuring the success of future counteroffensives spearheaded by Western tanks.
The West also has ruled out providing Kyiv with long-range missiles able to hit Russian territory, citing potential escalation.
After months of haggling, Western allies agreed last week to send the tanks, despite the hesitation and caution of some NATO members.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz appeared to balk at providing fighter jets, suggesting Sunday the reason for the discussion might be "domestic political motives" in some countries.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Monday there are "no taboos" in efforts to help Ukraine but added that jets "would be a very big next step."
Asked Tuesday about Western weapons supplies to Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov repeated the Kremlin's view that "NATO long has been directly involved into a hybrid war against Russia."
Following talks in Moscow with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, he said the Russian military will "take all the necessary measures to derail the fulfillment of Western plans."
He said Shoukry conveyed a message from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken about Ukraine, which repeated calls from Washington for Russia to withdraw. Lavrov said "Russia is ready to hear any serious -- I want to underline this word -- proposal aimed at comprehensive settlement of the current situation."
Both Ukraine and Russia are believed to be building up their arsenals for an expected offensive in the coming months after the war being deadlocked on the battlefield during winter.
Asked about Lithuania's call for fighter jets and long-range missiles for Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the comments "reflected an aggressive approach taken by the Baltic nations and Poland, who are ready to do everything to provoke further escalation without thinking about consequences."
Croatia President Zoran Milanovic, meanwhile, criticized Western nations for supplying Ukraine with tanks and other weapons, arguing those deliveries will only prolong the war.
Early in the conflict, discussions focused on possibly providing Kyiv with Soviet-made MiG-29 fighter jets that Ukrainian pilots are familiar with. In March, the Pentagon rejected Poland's proposal to transfer its MiG-29s to Kyiv through a U.S. base in Germany, citing a risk of triggering a Russia-NATO escalation.
Ukraine inherited a significant fleet of Soviet-made warplanes, including Su-27 and MiG-29 fighter jets and Su-25 ground attack aircraft. Switching to Western aircraft would require Ukrainian crews to undergo long training and raise logistical challenges over maintenance and repair.
Russia methodically targeted Ukrainian air bases and air defence batteries in the opening stage of the war, but Ukraine has relocated its warplanes and concealed air defence assets, resulting in Moscow's failure to gain full control of the skies.
After suffering early, heavy losses, the Russian air force has avoided venturing deep into Ukraine's airspace and mostly focused on close support missions along the front line.
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.
Staff at a small southern Alberta office supply store were shocked to find someone had broken into the business last week, but they were even more confused when they discovered the culprit was a bear.
After a lengthy series of instructions from Justice Dan Cornell, a Sudbury jury is deliberating whether to find a suspect guilty of three counts of manslaughter or three counts of murder.
A spike in impaired driving-related collisions has caused Ontario’s provincial police to begin enforcing mandatory alcohol screening (MAS) at all traffic stops in the Greater Toronto Area -- a move one civil rights group says is ‘not acceptable.’
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.
The lawyer for a residential school survivor leading a proposed class-action defamation lawsuit against the Catholic Church over residential schools says the court action is a last resort.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.