Canada promised an air defence system to Ukraine 18 months ago. It still hasn't arrived
CBC
Ukraine's minister of foreign affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, says his country is in urgent need of weapons and wishes the air defence system Canada promised more than a year ago was already in Ukraine.
Canada announced plans in January 2023 to donate a $406-million surface-to-air missile defence system, but there's still no delivery date.
"Of course, we wish the system was already in Ukraine because we are in a situation where every piece of air defence matters," Kuleba said when asked by CBC News at the conclusion of the Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland on Sunday.
"It's an issue of death and life, issue of survival of our energy infrastructure."
Ukraine is in a difficult position on the battlefield, and Russian gains have led to intense fighting northeast of Kharkiv. Russian drone and missile strikes have badly damaged the country's energy grid.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the air defence system, known by the acronym NASAMS, is currently being built by the United States, and the delivery date is out of Canada's control.
"We are working with the U.S. to accelerate production and get it off the assembly line and get it to Ukraine as quickly as possible," Trudeau said when asked by CBC News at the summit.
"We know the Americans want to do that as well, but it is something that is not entirely in Canada's control."
Kuleba said he is aware that Canada is "actively pushing" to speed up the delivery and that he wanted to make a simple point.
"The road to peace, the road to recovery in Ukraine starts with air defence and weapons that make our soldiers stronger on the battlefield," he said.
Both Kuleba and Trudeau were among those who attended the two-day talks at a Swiss Alpine resort, at the behest of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to forge a path forward to end the war in Ukraine. War broke out after Russia invaded its neighbour in February 2022.
Speaking to reporters, Trudeau wouldn't say whether Canada will commit to sending military trainers to Ukraine. NATO ally France has made a public pledge to send trainers.
"Canada has trained over 35,000 members of the Ukrainian armed forces and that continues," Trudeau said. "We know how important it is, through working in various places, it is to continue to enable Ukraine to stand against the tremendous numbers and resources that Russia is throwing at them."
In an interview with CBC chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton, the Canadian military's chief of the defence staff, Gen. Wayne Eyre, said he received a briefing on the training mission from his French counterpart following D-Day commemoration ceremonies earlier this month.
A disgraced real-estate lawyer who this week admitted to pilfering millions in client money to support her and her family's lavish lifestyle was handcuffed in a Toronto courtroom Friday afternoon and marched out by a constable to serve a 20-day sentence for contempt of court, as her husband and mother watched.
A provincial child-care advocacy group says governments need to commit to pushing $10-a-day child care forward in Canada, but a conservative think tank says data shows it isn't working as intended in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Diane Sims has already written her own obituary.
Thirty years after her murder in 1994, Halifax police are still looking for Kimber Leanne Lucas's killer.
When Kevin Campbell took a 1991 Chevy truck in trade at his dealership on Moncton's Salisbury Road in early November, he didn't have it for long.
Quebec mayor says 'one-size-fits-all' language law isn't right for his town where French is thriving
English is not Daniel Côté's first language but he says it's integral to the town he calls home.
As their role in health care continues to grow, nurse practitioners across Canada are looking to Alberta, where nurse practitioners recently formed their own union — but on P.E.I., the nurses' union that represents them says it's doing its job.
As the fallout over fallen buildings in Gore Park continues, Hamilton officials will be turning their attention to other properties.
Fire crews responded to a transport truck fire on the Ambassador Bridge connecting Windsor and Detroit.
When the government touts that its auto insurance reforms might curb premiums by $400 come 2027, the ministers and premier don't readily mention what's to come in the three years leading up to that.
Who poses the greater threat to the free speech of Conservative MPs — the Speaker of the House of Commons or the leader of the Conservative Party?