Canada Pledges Ukraine Air Defense, Signs 100-Year Pact

Volodymyr Zelenskyy walked out of a Calgary meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday with an air defense deal and a 100-year partnership declaration, after arriving in Canada on an unannounced two-day trip to lock in support before winter.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in Calgary on Thursday and secured what he called a "very important package of air defense," alongside a signed declaration of a 100-year partnership between the two countries.

Carney said Canada and Ukraine had "finalized an agreement to deliver critical air defense interceptors" through what he called the United States Jumpstart mechanism, a package he put at about 350 million Canadian dollars — roughly $260 million.

Carney also said Canada has now provided the equivalent of 26 billion Canadian dollars, about $19 billion, in support for Ukraine since Russia's 2022 invasion.

The Numbers

Bloomberg reported that Carney and Zelenskyy's governments agreed Canada would expand its drone production capacity — Carney says the country will need millions of drones — and send one-third of that output to Ukraine.

Canada is home to more than a million people of Ukrainian descent, according to Deutsche Welle.