Washington. January 18. INTERFAX - A small contingent of Canadian special forces has been sent to Ukraine in order to assist the Ukrainian military in countering threats from Russia, the Canadian Global News channel reported without citing sources.
Canadian special forces units "were deployed in Ukraine amid growing tensions between the NATO military alliance and Russia," the channel said in a statement.
These actions "were taken due to the fact that diplomatic negotiations aimed at preventing an armed conflict in Ukraine broke down, and, according to estimates, 100 thousand Russian servicemen remain on the border with Ukraine," the report says.
It also says that the task of the unit also includes the development of plans for the evacuation of Canadian diplomatic personnel from Ukraine "in the event of a full-scale invasion."
According to media reports, a representative of the special operations forces command said that it could not confirm this report, but noted that support for the Ukrainian security forces has been provided periodically since the fall of 2020.
Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly arrived in Kiev on a two-day visit the day before.
According to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, "the heads of Ukrainian and Canadian diplomacy will hold talks, the key topics of which will be countering Russian aggression, consolidating further steps to contain the Russian Federation, strengthening the security sector of Ukraine."
