Canada deploys 224 of its soldiers to train new Ukrainian recruits

Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand announced that her country has authorised the deployment of up to 225 Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) personnel to train new Ukrainian recruits.

Under Operation UNIFIER, Canada's military training and capacity building mission in Ukraine, the CAF will deploy personnel to the UK, the Minister said in a statement,.

She added that the majority of them will work as trainers, for an initial deployment of approximately four months, reports Xinhua news agency.

The first of up to three training cohorts, consisting of approximately 90 soldiers, are scheduled to depart on August 12 and will begin leading courses in the following weeks, Anand said.

The first Canadian-led courses will take place at a military base located in South East England, and will teach a flexible curriculum focused on individual skills required for frontline combat, including weapons handling, battlefield first aid, fieldcraft, patrol tactics and the Law of Armed Conflict, according to the statement.

Operation UNIFIER was launched in 2015 at the request of the Ukrainian government, and early this year, was expanded and extended until March 2025.

Since the start of the operation, the CAF has trained over 33,000 Ukrainian military and security personnel in battlefield tactics and advanced military skills.

--IANS

ksk/