Canada and Latvia will jointly train Ukrainian combat leaders on Latvian soil, beginning as early as 15 May of this year, the Canadian Defence Ministry has announced.
"Jointly developed by the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and the Latvian National Armed Forces, this program will see CAF and Latvian National Armed Forces members delivering much-needed Junior Officer leadership development training for the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) through Operation UNIFIER," it said.
This training comes in addition to the Canadian Armed Forces’ other ongoing deployments through Operation UNIFIER in support of Ukraine.
- Approximately eighty Canadian Armed Forces members are deployed to Poland under Operation UNIFIER. This mission includes:
- Approximately 45 CAF combat engineers training sappers on a range of basic and advanced engineering skills, engineering reconnaissance, the use of explosives for demolition work, and demining;
- Approximately 25 CAF members training AFU tank crews on the use of Leopard 2 main battle tanks;
- Approximately 10 CAF members and training members of the AFU with the skills needed to save lives in combat situations; and
- Approximately 170 Canadian Armed Forces members are deployed to the United Kingdom under Operation UNIFIER, where they are training members of the AFU on individual skills required for frontline combat, including weapons handling, battlefield first aid, fieldcraft, patrol tactics and the Law of Armed Conflict.