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New Year Brings Positive Indicators

Jan 9, 2018 | Featured, Editorials

Marco Levytsky, NP-UN.

As we begin the New Year, there have been some positive developments insofar as international support for Ukraine’s continued struggle against Russian aggression is concerned.

The first, which came late last year (December 22 to be exact), was the announcement that the United States will provide “enhanced defensive capabilities” for Ukraine.

Although the State Department did not define “enhanced defensive capabilities”, nor confirm that anti-tank missiles or other lethal weapons would be sent, officials demanding anonymity, told The Associated Press this includes American-made Javelin anti-tank missiles.

The FGM-148 Javelin is an portable anti-tank missile which uses an automatic infrared guidance that allows the user to seek cover immediately after launch. Its effectiveness is due both to the its range of up to 4 kilometers and ability to penetrate even the hardest armour.

According to The National Interest website, which specializes in U.S. Foreign Affairs, the United States is prepared to provide up to 220 such missiles.

At the outset of the war with Russia (or Russian-backed terrorists, if you prefer), Ukraine possessed only Soviet-era anti-tank missiles, which were no match for the latest generation of Russian tanks.

Since then Ukraine has begun developing a new generation of missiles like the Corsars and Stugna-P’s which cost a lot less than the Javelins, and have been proven effective against the older Russian T-64 and T-72 tanks, but cannot penetrate the armour of the most modern T-90 tanks the way Javelins can.

The second positive indicator came in this new year – on January 3. This was the call by Germany’s Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel for the establishment of an armed UN peacekeeping mission in eastern Ukraine before Russia’s March 18 presidential election.

Gabriel’s call, which came after a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Pavlo Klimkin, adds a sense of urgency to the peacekeeping proposal, as does his statement that both Germany and France will present such a proposal to the UN Security Council.

According to Gabriel: “This has to be a strong, armed mission that is present across the entire territory of the conflict zone”, while Russia wants to limit any such peacekeeping force only to the front line that separates territory controlled by Kremlin-backed terrorists from the rest of Ukraine.

Both these initiatives deserve not only strong support from Canada, but also resolute action.

In the past, both the Harper and the Trudeau governments have dodged the issue of supplying lethal arms to Ukraine on the grounds that we have to act in concert with our allies (although since going into opposition, the Conservatives have adopted an unconditional stand in favour of supplying lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine).

Well, with the U.S. decision to supply lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine, that excuse is no longer valid. What’s even more is that the House of Commons Standing Committee of National Defence has specifically called for Canada to provide defensive lethal weapons for Ukraine. Canada must now follow the lead of our closest neighbour and ally and provide whatever we can to help Ukrainians defend their land and their freedom against rapacious Russian aggression. Another critical piece of assistance that Canada can give to Ukraine is the reinstatement of the program to provide radar satellite imagery that will help Ukraine’s Armed Forces. Just because that program was not as effective as it could have been in the past due to red tape, it can be improved upon to become more effective – and should be improved upon.

As for the German call for swift action in creating a UN peacekeeping force, Canada, as we have noted in the past, has a stellar historic reputation when it comes to such matters. In fact, this country is the one which initiated the whole concept of UN peacekeeping in the first place. This was during the 1956 Suez Crisis, and it was an achievement which won then External Affairs Minister, later Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson the Nobel Peace Prize. Canada should take a leading role in paving the way for an effective peacekeeping mission in Ukraine.

Perhaps it already has. There is a distinct possibility that this Franco-German initiative to bring this call for a peacekeeping mission before the March 18 Russian presidential election before the UN Security Council is a result of the diplomatic push for international support for such a project our Foreign Minister, Chrystia Freeland, launched two months ago.

Nevertheless, both these initiatives call not only for Canada’s support, but also for action. Our government needs to be pro-active, both in terms of providing lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine, as well as RadarStat imagery and assuming a substantive role in any future peacekeeping mission.

We trust this government will continue standing shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine (as did previous governments) and step up to the plate.

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