Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Schimel looks on to Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau during a joint press conference on April 11, 2023 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Photo Credit: Reuters
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces more military aid to support Ukraine its war with russia Hosting Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal in Toronto on April 11 (Tuesday).
The new military aid includes 21,000 assault rifles, 38 machine guns and more than 2.4 million rounds of ammunition.
“We are preparing for our counter-attack. We need more ammunition, we need more weapons, we need more military equipment,” Mr. Schimmel said.
Mr. Shimhal thanked Canada for its support since the Russian military invasion in February 2022, including billions of dollars in economic and military aid.
Mr. Trudeau also said that Canada is imposing new sanctions on Russian and Belarusian officials and organizations in retaliation for the ongoing invasion.
“Ukraine is fighting for the values and principles that are the basis of all our democracies,” Mr. Trudeau said. We will take all necessary steps to ensure the victory of Ukraine.”
Canada also provided a C$2.4 billion Canadian (US$1.78 billion) loan to the government of Ukraine to support essential services, including pension payments and restoring damaged energy infrastructure. Canada’s total commitment to Ukraine has exceeded $8 billion Canadian (US5.94 billion).
Mr. Trudeau was also asked about the Prime Minister’s website being down on Tuesday.
There have been a series of denial-of-service attacks on Ukraine, its European allies and US websites by pro-Russia hacktivists since Russia invaded its neighbor last year – some with significant impact. Denial of service attacks involve a coordinated flooding of a targeted website with junk data in order to make it unreachable. Attacks are not hacking, although they can sometimes be used to disguise network intrusions.
Mr. Trudeau said it is not unusual for Russia to target countries because they are showing their strong support for Ukraine and because they are welcoming Ukrainian delegations.
“The timing is not surprising,” Mr. Trudeau said. “But in case anyone is wondering, Russia being able to bring down an official webpage of the Government of Canada for a few hours is in no way going to deter us from our unwavering support of Ukraine.