Canada ceased providing Ukrainian servicemen with satellite data
The Ambassador of Canada to Ukraine, Roman Waschuk, wrote on Twitter that Canada has suspended the provision of satellite data to Ukrainian servicemen. “Indeed, the provision of satellite data that wasn’t used for operational tasks has been suspended since May,” Waschuk wrote.
According to him, the funding would be transferred to a new bilateral police mission already deployed in Ukraine that would include up to 20 Canadian police officers.
Waschuk also added that the defense sector cooperation agreement has been finalized and is waiting to be signed by the Ministers of Defense. “The Prime Minister and the Chief of Staff visited Yavorovsky training ground in order to emphasize the success of exercises. Decisions on future plans will be made by March 2017,” the Ambassador noted. In addition, the rotation of Canadian military trainers will be held at the Yavorovsky training ground in August.
“In August, we will say goodbye to the 22nd regiment from Quebec and welcome the regiment from Alberta,” Waschuk added. In turn, the Ambassador of Ukraine to Canada, Andriy Shevchenko, explained that Canadian military assistance for our country is taking several directions.
“The first is the training of our military force. The second is about the supply of clothes and non-lethal equipment. The third is the provision of satellite images that we have been receiving for our servicemen until recently. Unfortunately, Canada decided to cease the provision of such images for budget reasons but we hope that we will be able to find other instruments for cooperation,” the Ambassador said in an interview with Ukrinform.
Earlier, the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, asked the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, to extend the work of Canadian military trainers in Ukraine. In the early summer of 2015, 200 Canadian military trainers joined servicemen from the United States and the United Kingdom in Ukraine, where they are scheduled to train Ukrainian soldiers until the 31st of March, 2017.