Canada will supply another $115 million to Ukraine, allowing the country to repair its damaged power grid after repeated Russian attacks."Putin and his henchmen are war criminals, and they are attempting to use the cold as a weapon to break the spirit of the remarkable people of Ukraine," Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Monday..According to Freeland, the money will come from tariff revenues collected on imports from Russia and Belarus. On March 2, 2022, Canada revoked the Most-Favoured-Nation status for imports from Russia and Belarus, resulting in tariffs of 35% being applied to all their goods entering Canada..The money will be supplied to Ukraine through the World Bank’s Restoration Project of Winterization and Energy Resources. The fund was recently established to facilitate grant contributions from international partners to help Ukraine restore its energy infrastructure..Speaking from the Standing with the Ukrainian People conference in Paris, France, Freeland said the financial support from Canada "will help ensure that Ukraine can secure its energy infrastructure and make it through the difficult winter to come.".In recent months, Russia heavily shelled civilian infrastructure in major Ukrainian cities, resulting in prolonged blackouts across the country. On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for $843 million in aid to support the country's critical infrastructure during the winter, claiming this money would be less expensive than a "total blackout.".Since Russia first invaded Ukraine back in February 2022, Canada already gave Ukraine $2 billion in direct financial assistance. They have also committed an additional $500 million through the Ukraine Sovereignty Bond..On Monday, the Group of Seven countries said they would set up a multi-agency platform to coordinate aid to Ukraine and support its repair, recovery and reconstruction..The Canadian government has not put any mechanisms in place to monitor exactly where all the money donated to Ukraine will end up. Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index of 2921 ranked Ukraine 120th out of 182 countries, making it the second most corrupt country in Europe, behind Russia.
