According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German research organization, Canada's military aid to Ukraine was about $2.86 billion between Jan. 24, 2022, and Feb. 29 of this year.
This places Canada in ninth place among countries that have allocated military aid to Ukraine, behind the United States ($64 billion), Germany ($14.9 billion), Britain ($7.8 billion), Denmark ($7.1 billion), the Netherlands ($5.7 billion), Poland ($4.5 billion), Sweden ($4.1 billion) and France ($4 billion).
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Of these countries, half (the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and France) rank higher than Canada in terms of GDP, and the other half rank lower than Canada.
In return, Ukraine has provided a human shield to protect Western countries, including Canada, from Russia's insatiable expansionism that could lead to World War III.
In fact, on March 7, U.S. President Joe Biden acknowledged this harsh reality in his State of the Union address, saying, “Overseas, Russia's Putin is on the march, invading Ukraine and sowing chaos across Europe and beyond. If anyone in this room thinks Putin will stop in Ukraine, I can tell you: he will not stop. But if we support Ukraine and provide it with the weapons it needs to defend itself, Ukraine can stop Putin. And that's all Ukraine wants.”
Therefore, unless Ukraine stops them, Russia could invade a NATO member state and force Canada into war, since Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty states that an attack on any NATO member state is considered an attack on all members, including Canada.
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Ukraine has already paid the highest price in its courageous defense of its national and European territorial integrity: tens of thousands of military and civilian casualties, including children, the incalculable human suffering caused by Russia's genocidal actions, and the massive destruction caused by Russia's relentless missile and drone attacks. The Ukrainian government, the World Bank Group, the European Commission, and the United Nations estimate the total cost of rebuilding and reconstructing Ukraine at $668 billion over the next decade as of the end of 2023.
On September 22, during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit to Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, “Canada will stand with Ukraine, no matter what, no matter how long it takes.”
However, Canada's 2024 budget allocates $1.6 billion over five years, starting in 2024-25, for lethal and non-lethal military assistance to Ukraine. This represents roughly $320 million per year for the next five years, just 22% of the military assistance Canada provided to Ukraine during the first two years of Russia's all-out war against Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022.
Prior to this budget, several countries allocated significantly more military aid to Ukraine than Canada, and Canada's 2024 budget will create even larger disparities in military aid to Ukraine between these countries and Canada.
Canada can and should do more now to avoid paying the greatest price later for upholding the fundamental principles enshrined in the UN Charter, not just for Ukraine but for its own sake as well.
Lawyer Eugene Chorizh is head of the NGO Ukraine 2050, Honorary Consul of Ukraine in Montreal and former Chairman of the Ukrainian World Congress (2008-2018).
This article is republished from the Toronto Star with permission from the author. Read the original article here.
The views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Kyiv Post.
