Will Canada send tanks to Ukraine if Germany gives green light? Anand won't say
CTV
Defence Minister Anita Anand says she has “no news to share” on whether Canada is willing to send some of its battle tanks to Ukraine — should Germany greenlight the export — following a meeting of 50 allied defence leaders this week.
Defence Minister Anita Anand says she has “no news to share” on whether Canada is willing to send some of its battle tanks to Ukraine — should Germany greenlight the export — following a meeting of 50 allied defence leaders this week.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly issued pleas for tanks, although members of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group failed to come to an agreement on what to send after meetings at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany this week.
Canada has 82 German-made Leopard 2 tanks, in various states of serviceability, but it needs permission from Germany to send them to Ukraine, consent it has yet to receive.
Anand told CTV’s Question Period host Vassy Kapelos in an interview airing Sunday, Canada is committed to sending what it can in military aid to Ukraine, but when pressed, she wouldn’t say definitively whether Canada would send the battle tanks Ukraine is requesting if Germany signs off on it.
“I have no news to share today on this,” Anand said.
“We're taking this and our aid to Ukraine step by step,” she said, adding the federal government is “engaging industry” in Canada and “examining all options.”
“That's why we were able to purchase the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) from the United States,” she said. “Because wherever we can, we are looking to ensure that we are doing our very best for Ukraine, and the 1.4 million Ukrainians that are here in Canada.”
