Canada prepares to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine & More Trending News

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The Canadian Forces is sending Leopard tanks to Ukraine however remains to be analyzing actual numbers it could possibly donate, National Defence and business sources say.

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Plans are continuing now that Germany has dropped its considerations about supplying the gear to Ukraine which is within the midst of making ready for a brand new Russian offensive. NATO nations are co-ordinating between themselves making an attempt to decide particular numbers of tanks that every nation can present.

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The Royal Canadian Air Force may, if wanted, use its C-17 transport planes to transfer the tanks to Poland, Canadian navy insiders say. From there the armoured automobiles might be transported to Ukraine.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau mentioned Wednesday that “I have no announcement to make today” about Canada’s donation of tanks.

But he urged that might be forthcoming. “As you know very well, Canada always tries to do whatever it can to help Ukraine,” he instructed journalists. “We hope that we’ll have more to share in the next few days.”

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The Canadian Forces has 112 Leopard 2s in its fleet. Some of the tanks are for coaching whereas others are armoured restoration automobiles. Those can get better disabled tanks in addition to present fight engineer help.

The Canadian Army’s Leopard 2 fleet is based at Canadian Forces Base Edmonton, CFB Gagetown, and on the military gear fielding centre in Montreal.

Military insiders say Canada is hoping to present at the very least 10 Leopard 2s, if no more.

The Canadian authorities has thus far offered Ukraine with $5 billion in help and weapons since Russia invaded virtually a yr in the past, Defence Minister Anita Anand has mentioned.

Germany has introduced it’s going to send 14 Leopard 2 A6 tanks in addition to ammunition and spare components. Ukrainian crews will probably be skilled in Germany.

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The German military has 320 Leopard 2 tanks however not all are fight prepared.

Poland has additionally famous it’s going to present Leopards to Ukraine.

The U.S. is offering 31 of its Abrams tanks however these are seen as pricey to function.

The United Kingdom will donate 14 of its British Army Challenger 2 tanks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of employees, Andriy Yermak, wrote on Telegram: “The first tank step has been taken. Next up is the ‘tank coalition’. We need a lot of Leopards.”

Canada is beneath stress to present much more weapons to Ukraine.

Retired chief of the defence employees Gen. Rick Hillier mentioned the Canadian Army ought to donate 50 of its Leopard 2 tanks.

Hillier, who works as an advisor for the Ukrainian World Congress, had beforehand known as for the Canadian navy to surrender half of its armoured automobiles to Ukraine. When he was military commander Hillier tried to eliminate Canada’s Leopard tanks, claiming they had been of no use in conflicts that Canada would grow to be concerned in corresponding to Afghanistan.

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Warfare had modified, in accordance to Hillier. No longer was the Canadian Forces going through the Russians, he wrote on the time.

Later, nevertheless, the Canadian Army found that the Leopards did have a task in Afghanistan and in 2006 the tanks had been rushed to Canadian Forces preventing in Kandahar.

Last September Bob Rae, Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, instructed CBC the Canadian authorities ought to say sure to each request for weapons it receives from Ukraine.

NATO nations have been sending giant quantities of weapons to Ukraine because the Feb. 24 invasion of that nation by Russia. Some NATO officers view the warfare as a chance to both power regime change in Russia or to significantly weaken that nation militarily.

In May 2022, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis instructed the Associated Press that eradicating Russian President Vladimir Putin from energy was the one means to defend the West.

U.S. defence secretary Lloyd Austin, a retired four-star U.S. basic, mentioned final yr that, with sufficient gear, Ukraine may defeat Russia. Austin instructed reporters the U.S. needed to see “Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine.”