Canada promises to send $500M in aid to Ukraine

Ottawa's plege part of $59B package being sent by alliance within next year

- ALEX BALLINGALL

U.S. President Joe Biden, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the NATO summit Wednesday in Washington, where much of the discussion has centred on Ukraine.

Canada is pledging $500 million in fresh military aid to Ukraine as part of a new package of support agreed to at the NATO summit that the United States said will give the war-torn nation a “well-lit bridge” to join the alliance.

A Canadian government official confirmed to reporters at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s summit on Wednesday that Ottawa will send the money to Ukraine over the next year, and also take command of a NATO training program for Ukrainian pilots to fly newly delivered F-16 fighter jets.

The moves came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pleaded for more support to help his country defeat invading Russian forces. Amid speculation that Donald Trump could bring his isolationist bent back to the White House in this year’s U.S. presidential election, Zelenskyy urged NATO’s members to “step out of the shadows and make stronger decisions” before the vote in November.

The new Canadian aid is Ottawa’s contribution to $59 billion in pledges from NATO’s 32 members that the White House said Wednesday would be delivered “within the next year.” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had signalled before this week’s summit that he hoped allies would agree to lock in an annual commitment of that size for Ukraine, but said Wednesday that the package is a “minimum baseline” for this year that will be reviewed at the next NATO meeting in 2025.

“Unless we want to bow to (Vladimir) Putin, we need to show commitment and resolve,” Stoltenberg told reporters.