The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) will resume large-scale training of Ukrainian soldiers under Operation Unifier, according to Defence Minister Anita Anand..Beginning next week, 225 CAF soldiers will depart from Edmonton to train Ukrainian soldiers in the United Kingdom..An earlier Canadian military training mission based in Ukraine was suspended only weeks before Russia's invasion of Ukraine began.."When we paused training in Ukraine this past winter, we said clearly that we would resume the training whenever and wherever the opportunity arose," said Anand.."By working with the United Kingdom, we will continue to make good on that promise. Canada salutes the courage and bravery of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and we will continue to help empower them with the skills that they need to defend their nation's freedom and independence.".Over a period of four months, the CAF soldiers will work alongside counterparts from Britain, the Netherlands and New Zealand in training new Ukrainian recruits on the basics of combat..Anand said up to 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers are expected to fly to the United Kingdom for basic and specialist military in courses that last five weeks. At a military base in South East England, CAF soldiers will teach Ukrainians front-line combat, first aid, fieldcraft, patrol tactics, and the Law of Armed Conflict..After Russia invaded and annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014, Canada, Britain and the United States launched a mission to help train the Ukrainian military. That mission, called Operation Unifier, trained more than 30,000 Ukrainian soldiers..The trainers all eventually returned home, but Canada has since expanded the scope of its military presence in Europe following Russia's invasion of Ukraine back in February..Anand said the training mission is yet another example of Canada's "all hands on deck" approach to defending the "rules-based international order." She also reiterated that NATO countries remained unified against Russian aggression.
