Canada is donating an additional $2 billion of military equipment, including more than 400 armoured vehicles, to Ukraine as the embattled Eastern European country’s war with Russia rolls into its fifth year.

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the assistance on Tuesday at the same time as Global Affairs Canada announced additional sanctions on individuals and companies that are helping fuel Moscow’s war effort, including Russian firms that specialize in artificial intelligence, drone production and individual tankers that smuggle Russian oil to market.

The prime minister also announced a three-year extension of Operation Unifier, the Canadian military training mission that has — since 2015 — helped instruct an estimated 47,000 Ukrainian soldiers.

“We’re in it for the long haul,” Carney said on his way into cabinet Tuesday on Parliament Hill. “Russia is failing. The sooner they come to the table and actually participate in peace negotiations, the better it will be.”

Speaking to journalists following the meeting, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia has not achieved its objectives in his country and that the next trilateral meeting aimed at getting a ceasefire — involving negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the U.S. — would happen within a week or 10 days.

Carney, who also participated in the coalition meeting, echoed Zelenskyy’s sentiment.

“Russia is failing to achieve all of its objectives, four years into this conflict, 12 years if you include its annexation — its illegal annexation — of Crimea,” Carney said.

“Four years on, Russia is failing militarily, strategically and economically.”

Part of the enhanced sanctions package, announced Tuesday, targeted 100 ships that are part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” of tankers.

  • ryan213@lemmy.ca
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    5 hours ago

    What’s your best argument against “we should be spending this within Canada?”

  • Bluegrass_Addict@lemmy.ca
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    5 hours ago

    Carney… how about you start increasing rich people’s taxes and hold them to account… then fix healthcare. good on Ukraine though

  • ZiggyTheZygote@lemmy.ca
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    9 hours ago

    So what’s the people’s ROI, and in what public form does it come in? A reliable healthcare system hopefully?

    • Dystopia@lemmy.ca
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      7 hours ago

      Just pointing out that healthcare is handled on the Provincial level of government, not Federal (although that isn’t exactly the point you were trying to make).

      You should also consider consequences if Ukraine loses the war. Does Russia start invading other Europeans countries, and does Canada start sending troops if that happens?

    • No_Maines_Land@lemmy.ca
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      8 hours ago

      Pretty big ROI for the people actually.

      1. Proxy war is better than a war on our own soil. While the straight conflict is one part; Russia is also fantastic at information operations, and those are greatly subdued here due to that federations current conflict.

      2. All the donated vehicles are Canadian produced, so we get a subsidy for the vehicle industry (might of heard some issues around that regarding a trade war) and defense industry (a good strategic asset to have).

      3. The Operation Unifier mission training Ukrainian soldiers also allows our soldiers to learn from Ukrainians, keeping them up to date on the latest tactics of the war.

      4. With the current rumblings from another one of our neighbours, Canada has a pretty fucking huge interest in supporting a rule of law, over might makes right, international order.

    • Scotty@scribe.disroot.orgOP
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      8 hours ago

      @ZiggyTheZygote@lemmy.ca

      So what’s the people’s ROI, and in what public form does it come in? A reliable healthcare system hopefully?

      Just a quick reminder that Russia, which is a dictatorship, has been attacking Ukraine and killed hundreds of thousand people, including civilians and children, abducted minors to ‘re-educate’ them in military camps, and caused material damages in infrastructure and other property, and committed some 200,000 war crimes so far.

      And this is a tiny sample of what has been happening in Ukraine.

      Asking then for the “people’s ROI” when Canada supports Ukraine reveals a abhorrent mindset.

      [Here](War crimes in the Russo-Ukrainian war (2022–present)) is a more elaborated article.

      • ZiggyTheZygote@lemmy.ca
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        8 hours ago

        Well Canada also supported and still supports jizzrael in their ongoing genocide, so there you have it champ, it all evens out.

      • ZiggyTheZygote@lemmy.ca
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        8 hours ago

        Well the US is spending it’s people’s taxes mostly on a middle Eastern genocide, and look where they are now.