Defence Minister Bill Blair says long-awaited U.S.-made missile defence systems that the Canadian government helped to purchase have been delivered to Ukraine.
Blair told the House defence committee Thursday morning that the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) Ottawa pledged $406 million for almost two years ago are now in the hands of the Ukranians.
“I can’t give you more information on that because of operational security, but we have been able to deliver at long last — and I think it’s going to make a difference because it will enable them to protect communities,” Blair told the committee.
The government tried to expedite the delivery by piggybacking on a larger purchase the U.S. government was making. The planned $406-million purchase was announced in January 2023 — but as the Department of National Defence told CBC News in September, the federal government didn’t transfer funds to Washington to pay for the system and start the process until March 2023.
Washington couldn’t begin to negotiate a contract with the manufacturers until it had both its own funds and Canada’s money in hand, and also needed to seek congressional approval to buy the NASAMs. Congress gave the green light in May 2023.
WATCH | Putin says Russia used new medium-range ballistic missile:
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Moscow fired a new medium-range hypersonic ballistic missile at a military facility in the south-central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, in response to what he calls Western aggression after Kyiv got the green light to fire missiles into Russia.
According to Ukrainian officials in Dnipro, two people were injured in the missile attack when it hit an industrial facility and what they described as a rehabilitation centre for people with disabilities.
The U.S. recently gave Ukraine permission to fire American-supplied long-range missiles at targets on Russian soil and the U.K. has given the same green light.
On Tuesday, Russia published changes to its nuclear doctrine which lower the threshold for what would prompt the Kremlin to authorize a nuclear attack.