Montreal: Canada moved its Ukraine-based military units westward Sunday and announced the temporary withdrawal of all non-essential employees from its Kyiv embassy, citing ongoing Russian threats along the border.
“We will continue to take all precautions necessary to keep our Canadian Armed Forces safe and secure,” said Canada’s Defense Minister Anita Anand at a press conference in Kyiv.
She said Canadian forces “have moved west of the Dnieper River,” which cuts through the center of Ukraine.
Anand arrived in the former Soviet nation earlier Sunday to receive updates from the leaders of Canada’s military operation UNIFIER, which launched in 2015 to support and train Ukraine’s military.
“The intelligence that we are utilizing is consistent with our allies across the NATO alliance, and is generally well-known to be the case that there is Russian aggression at the Ukraine border in Belarus,” she said.
Russia has amassed more than 100,000 troops and heavy weaponry along its shared border with Ukraine, sparking international fears of an imminent invasion.
Anand warned Moscow would face “severe sanctions and consequences” if it does not de-escalate the military buildup. Canada currently has 900 military members supporting the NATO mission in Ukraine via “land, air, and sea,” she said.
Ottawa also announced Sunday it would withdraw all non-essential diplomats at its Kyiv embassy, days after their family members were repatriated.
Canada will then reinforce its embassy team with “officials with expertise in areas such as security sector reform, conflict management, democratic reform, consular services and diplomacy,” according to a government statement.
While the embassy in Kyiv remains open, the Canadian government has advised its citizens against traveling to Ukraine due to “ongoing Russian threats and military buildup” in and around the country.
The United States and Britain on Sunday flagged new and “devastating” economic sanctions against Russia, as Washington and its NATO allies step up efforts to deter any invasion of Ukraine.
