Germany’s Minister of Defence Boris Pistorius (left) and Minister of National Defence Bill Blair take part in a joint news conference at National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa on Friday, May 10, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
OTTAWA – Defence Minister Bill Blair is announcing $76 million for an effort led by Germany to help Ukraine defend itself from Russian missiles and aircraft.
Blair has signed an agreement with his German counterpart, Boris Pistorius, which will have Ottawa join a project with allies to provide air-defence systems to Ukraine.
In January 2023, Canada spent $400 million to send an American air-defence system to Ukraine, which Blair says is still being manufactured.
He says the lag in production is why Canada is joining the German initiative, which he called a quicker and more cost-effective project.
Pistorius also says he presented Blair a proposal to work with Norway on a project aimed at “securing sea lines of communication through the North Atlantic and Arctic.”
The German minister says Canada is a reliable military ally, and he had no complaints about Canada’s lack of a plan to meet the NATO alliance funding target, which is 2 per cent of gross domestic product.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 10, 2024.
