Canada will provide Ukraine with another 200 light vehicles, which will be made in Mississauga, a Toronto suburb, by a manufacturer that employs more than 80 Ukrainian refugees who are defending their country in their own way.
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Defense Minister Anita Anand will make the announcement on Wednesday morning after meeting with her counterpart, Ukrainian Minister Oleksii Reznikov earlier in the day in Kyiv. The minister is on a special mission in Europe.
“Doing nothing is not and never can be an option for Canada. This aid is at the heart of our own national interests,” Ms Anand said in an open letter to the journal. “We are and will remain in Ukraine for as long as necessary because what happens now will determine the world in which our children grow up.”
In Canada, a Ukrainian defends his country
Constantin, a Ukrainian refugee who chose to withhold his surname for fear of reprisals for his family, has been working for Roshel, Canada’s largest light vehicle maker, since July, just two months after arriving in May.
The 56-year-old, who works as an agricultural machine builder, said he was “very grateful” to now be able to work as a welder on the assembly line of the Senator Light vehicle, which Canada has ordered for Ukraine.
Constantin spoke to the QMI agency about Roshel founder and director Roman Shimonov, who acted as an interpreter between Russian, Ukrainian and English.
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Constantin has been with Roshel since July. He works as a welding supervisor for the armored vehicle that Canada will donate to Ukraine.
A special story ties him to his new job: the Kraken unit of the Ukrainian army used a “Senator” built in Mississauga to evacuate the building where his mother lived in Vovchansk, a village four kilometers from the border with Russia.
For Roman Shimonov, the work of Ukrainian refugees in Roshel is not just a livelihood.
“They are helping to defend their country for the people who are there and are fighting for the freedom of Ukraine. They work very hard because it’s one of the only ways for them to help their brothers and sisters and their parents who are stuck there,” Mr. Shimonov said over the phone.
Military, engineers, welders: Mr. Shimonov says he has assembled a full team of competent people dedicated to a project for Ukraine. He found his new employees through various channels, including social networks.
Konstantin lives in the hope that one day the war will end, to come to his family in Vovchansk. Unfortunately, this isn’t for tomorrow, as fresh Russian attacks in recent days have forced fresh evacuations, so much so that his mother is considering moving to Kharkiv, another city in eastern Ukraine that was only recently bombed.
The engineer wanted to thank Canada for its help so far, but said he would be “even more grateful” if the country and NATO allies provided more heavy artillery, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy himself calls for.
A shielded contract
To date, over 200 “senators” have been delivered to Ukraine. Canada has shipped 8 in the past, but Roshel has received orders from several other countries, particularly Europe.
Even though construction hasn’t started yet, Roman Shimonov predicts that a first batch from the new contract with Ottawa will arrive in Ukraine as early as March, with all 200 vehicles to be delivered “before the summer”.
Totaling nearly $90 million, this new shipment adds to the $500 million in additional aid Justin Trudeau announced last fall. More than $405 million of the amount will be spent on deploying an advanced NASAMS air defense system.
The Senator is an armored personnel carrier (APC). Defended against most types of ballistic munitions, it is primarily used for transporting military personnel in the field.
But each order will be modified according to the report of Ukrainian forces on the ground, Mr. Shimonov explains. The new version that Ottawa will send will be customized to install a weapon to respond to an attack.
Roshel’s various vehicle types find a variety of customers: NASA, the US Department of State and the Montreal-based security company GardaWorld.