Marco Levytsky, NP-UN National Affairs Desk.
The deployment of the Canadian surge team, which arrived at the International Peacekeeping and Security Centre in Starychi, Ukraine, January 26, marks several steps forward in Operation Unifier, says a spokesperson for the Canadian Armed Forces.
“This is the largest Canadian contingency since the start of the initiative in 2015 and it’s also the first time that we have trained a battalion tactical group, which consists of more (people) on the ground here (as well as having) an armoured component to it,” Naval Lieutenant Julie McDonald told New Pathway – Ukrainian News in a telephone interview from Starychi, January 31.
Up to this point the Canadians have trained groups of up to 600 soldiers throughout a 55-day cycle at a time. Under this new program, they will train a battalion-sized unit of 1,000 personnel. The training cycle will be close to 60 days and it will include demonstrations with tanks and artillery, as well as verbal communication.
But it is a temporary deployment, scheduled to be completed at the end of March at which point the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) hope that the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) will be able to train their own personnel. As Lieut. McDonald puts it, it’s “train the trainers”.
After completion, the regular 200-person contingent will remain and continue mentoring the UAF personnel as before.
Joint Task Force-Ukraine (JTF-U), which runs Operation Unifier contains members of all three branches of the CADF – Army, Navy and Air Force, although the bulk of the force consists of Army personnel.
The surge team comprises a total of 48 CAF members from infantry, artillery, armored and logistical corps, increasing Canada’s presence to approximately 240 personnel for the duration of the temporary increase.
The training provided by the CAF, in coordination with our allies, contributes to enhancing the Armed Forces of Ukraine self-sufficiency in training delivery and their ability to conduct military operations across the full spectrum of conflict.
By participating in this training mission, the CAF is helping to develop the professionalism and modernization of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, supporting Ukrainian aspirations to achieve military compatibility with NATO by 2020.
Since August 2015, the CAF has deployed approximately 200 CAF personnel on a rotating basis to Ukraine and will continue to do so until the end of March 2019. More than 5 000 Armed Forces of Ukraine candidates have participated in the training.
Share on Social Media
