Canada sends armored vehicles to Ukraine, Germany wants NATO to avoid conflict with Russia

Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said that the country will send 200 Senator armored vehicles to Ukraine in the near future.

According to a statement on the Canadian Government's website on January 18, Defense Minister Anita Anand traveled to Kiev and met with many senior Ukrainian officials, including his Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov.

Ms. Anita Anand (left) and her Ukrainian counterpart Reznikov. Photo: Radio-Canada.

“During talks with the Ukrainian Defense Minister, Ms. Anand announced that Canada will provide 200 Senator armored vehicles to the Kiev armed forces. This aid is worth more than $90 million and is part of an additional $500 million military assistance package announced by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last November,” the statement said.

“Ms. Anand and Mr. Reznikov then discussed how Canada can meet Ukraine’s urgent defense needs. Minister Reznikov thanked Ottawa for the more than $1 billion in military assistance it has pledged to Kiev since February last year,” the statement added.

Germany wants NATO to avoid conflict with Russia

Attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that Germany and other NATO countries need to avoid the conflict in Ukraine becoming a war between the military bloc and Russia.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on January 18. Photo: AP

“Germany is one of the countries that has supported Ukraine the most. Berlin decided very early to change its political strategy, not only providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine but also a lot of weapons. We will continue to support Ukraine as long as necessary,” Mr. Scholz told reporters.

“The artillery that Germany provides to Ukraine is very effective in helping the Kiev armed forces defend their territory. They can count on our support, but we also need to avoid a conflict in Ukraine that could turn into a war between NATO and Russia,” the German Chancellor stressed.

In another development, new German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius admitted on the same day that Berlin was "indirectly" involved in the conflict in Ukraine.

“Heading the German Defense Ministry is already a big challenge, even in peacetime. This challenge has become even bigger over time, with Germany’s indirect involvement in the conflict in Ukraine. The German military has had to adapt to a new situation related to Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine,” Pistorius told the dpa news agency.

Mr. Lavrov said the US and the West banned Ukraine from dialogue with Russia.

At a press conference summarizing the Russian Foreign Ministry's activities in 2022 held on January 18, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that the West does not allow Kiev to make its own decisions in the conflict with Moscow.

“We often hear the West say that it will not discuss the Ukrainian issue without Kiev’s participation. But in fact, the West made the decision for Ukraine when it banned President Volodymyr Zelensky from reaching an agreement with Russia at the end of March last year. Since then, Western representatives have repeatedly said that it is too early to negotiate and that Kiev needs arms aid to have a better position at the negotiating table,” TASS news agency quoted Lavrov as saying.

Ukraine and the West have yet to comment on the Russian Foreign Minister's statement.

Tuan Tran