The Canadian Press
Lee Berthiaume
OTTAWA–The military quietly has expanded its footprint in Ukraine, giving commanders free rein to send their troops anywhere–except where they might run into Russian forces or separatist rebels.
Canada first deployed about 200 troops to Ukraine in the summer of 2015 to help train government forces in their fight against Russian-backed separatists in the eastern part of the country.
But the Canadians were required to stay in the western half of Ukraine–far from the conflict that has continued to rage over the intervening two years, leaving more than 10,000 people dead.
Those restrictions were eased in March when the government extended the mission for another two years, the mission’s commander, Lt.-Col. Mark Lubiniecki, said in an interview yesterday.
While Canadian troops still are required to stay away from the border with Russia and the fighting in eastern Ukraine, he noted, the rest of the country is now fair game.
The change, added Lubiniecki, has given welcome flexibility to the Canadian mission, which so far has trained nearly 4,500 Ukrainian troops, many of whom have since been sent into the conflict zone.
The number of Canadian soldiers in Ukraine remains the same.
Lubiniecki would not reveal how far his troops have to stay from the Russian border, except to say that it is far enough away to keep them safe.
“We’re here to provide mentorship and training, we’re not here to be operating on the front line,” he stressed.
“So making sure we maintain that buffer is extremely important for us.”
The training mission is set to expire in 2019.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights released a report this week on the conflict in eastern Ukraine, asserting that an end to the three-year-old war was nowhere to be seen.
Fighting continues to erupt despite the existence of a ceasefire while more than 1.6 million people have been forced to flee their homes and another three million are struggling to make ends meet.
Canada’s presence in eastern Europe actually is set to expand over the next few months, as about 450 troops arrive in Latvia to lead a NATO force that will serve as a check on Russian aggression.
One of the concerns trumpeted by both Canadian and Latvian officials is that Russia, or at least pro-Russian agitators, will attempt to spread lies and false information about the mission there.
