The Canadian authorities are thinking about building up their military mission in Ukraine amid reports that Russia is pulling in troops to the Ukrainian border. According to the local outlet The Globe and Mail, Ottawa is considering several options for increasing assistance.
The Ministry of Defense of Canada is exploring the possibility of deploying hundreds of additional troops in Ukraine in support of the Canadian soldiers already deployed on Ukrainian territory as part of a training mission. Other options include sending a warship to the Black Sea region or transferring CF-18 fighters currently stationed in Romania.
However, the sources of the outlet reported that the final decision on increasing military assistance to Ukraine has not yet been made.
Additionally. Pavel Felgenhauer, an independent military analyst from Moscow, points out in his commentary to The Globe and Mail that while there is now no immediate threat of a sudden Russian attack on Ukraine, there are signs that Moscow will wait until late December or early January to launch an attack.
He stresses that "Russia is definitely planning a big campaign." According to him, the goal of the Russian offensive will be "the destruction of all of Ukraine" by crushing defeat of the army and overthrowing the government of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Tatiana Stanovaya, a research officer at the Carnegie Moscow Center, says that "Putin is really ready to do anything to shock the world and demonstrate that he will not tolerate the status quo." According to her, in the context of the attack, it is not about gaining more territory—the idea is to severely and without any doubt stop any Ukrainian ambitions to join NATO one day."
Context. Recently it became known that amid the spread of information about a potential new Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory, Washington is studying the possibility of sending additional weapons and military advisers to Ukraine.
