Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott (R) talks with Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko after the latter presented him with a book, during their meeting in Melbourne December 11, 2014. Poroshenko is on a three-day official visit to Australia from Decem
Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott (R) talks with Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko after the latter presented him with a book, during their meeting in Melbourne December 11, 2014. Poroshenko is on a three-day official visit to Australia from December 10 to 12. Australia could export coal and uranium to Ukraine to help ease Kiev's over reliance on Russian energy exports, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Thursday. Reuters/Julian Smith

Canada says it wants to help Ukraine with arms, but is facing the problem of not having the appropriate weapons to supply it. This was stated by Canada's Defence Minister Jason Kenney, who said, “We do not have surplus military kit sitting around in our storehouses that we can ship over to Ukraine. I actually had our military do an inventory of possible equipment, to prepare for all eventualities. The conclusion is that we just don’t have useful, operable equipment that we could send."

Kenney made these comments after a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission at the military alliance’s headquarters in Brussels.

According to a Ministry of Defence official, the inventory check of weapons scheduled for divestment or currently in use and those scheduled to be divested in the near future was carried out in February, shortly after Kenney took office. It was ordered around the same time the Ukrainian-Canadian Congress launched a large-scale lobbying effort arguing that the West’s reluctance to provide weapons to Ukraine is “fuelling Russia’s escalation.” Kenney also referred to Ukrainian Defence Minister Stepan Poltorak’s request at the Brussel’s meeting where he urged NATO to provide his country with more weapons.

Arms Supply

The Canadian minister said one major problem in supplying arms is that the Ukrainian military is still using Soviet weapons systems, meaning most armaments that Canada could send are not interoperable with the guns and equipment Ukrainians are using. Kenney said in helping Ukraine with arms, the right option seems to be purchasing weapons that can fit the Ukrainian systems.“It would essentially be us through one of our partnership funds, helping to procure equipment for them,” he said. But the decision at this point has been not to do so, Kenney said.

So far Canada has supplied Ukraine only non-lethal aid, such as uniforms and night-vision goggles. It is also providing satellite imagery to Ukrainian forces for fighting the insurgency in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. He said the biggest barrier in boosting arms supply to Ukraine is the fear among many NATO states that it would spur Russia to increase its own involvement in eastern Ukraine.

Diaspora Support

Meanwhile, Ukraine has been getting substantial help from the Canadian-Ukrainian community, ever since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2014. Under the diaspora organisations such as the Ukrainian World Congress, Ukrainian Canadian Congress and Canada-Ukraine Foundation they are reaching out with help. The Canadian government also entrusted them with the distribution of millions of dollars of non-lethal aid including night vision goggles, sleeping bags, boots, uniforms and other equipment. It is learnt that the Canada-Ukraine Foundation spent $615,000 in 2014 and has completed 15 Ukraine-related projects.

(For feedback/comments, contact the writer at k.kumar@ibtimes.com.au)