Canada ditches Ukraine military pledge

Canada has officially acknowledged that its plan to refurbish and deliver decommissioned armored personnel carriers to Ukraine has been abandoned, after months of silence over the unfulfilled pledge.

The 25 vehicles were handed over to Ontario-based defense contractor Armatec Survivability nearly two years ago under a deal estimated at 250 million Canadian dollars (US$178 million).

“There is a decision that’s been taken to nullify the contract with that company presently,” McGuinty told the House of Commons defense committee on Tuesday. “I can’t go any further in terms of discussing the merits. We’ll see how that evolves in relation to the department and the contractor.”

The acknowledgement follows a CBC News report last week that noted the project had quietly disappeared from the government’s list of active defense contracts earlier this year. The outlet said officials declined to comment citing confidentiality clauses, and cited industry insiders who claimed the refurbishment effort was “dead.”

While declining to elaborate on the reasons behind the cancellation, McGuinty instead emphasized Canada’s broader record of providing weapons and equipment to Ukraine to fight Russia. Ethnic Ukrainians – including descendants of nationalists who fled to Canada after failing to secure statehood for Ukraine with the help of Nazi Germany during World War II – form a notable voting bloc in the country.

Ukrainian lawmaker Aleksandra Ustinova told CBC last year that her government was prepared to “take even junk, tear it apart and make one out of three machines,” highlighting Kiev’s need for more armored vehicles.

Moscow has maintained that Western arms supplies will not alter the outcome of the conflict, arguing that such deliveries only prolong the fighting and contribute to the spread of weapons on the global black market.

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