Seeking additional arms for counter-offensive, Ukraine PM Denys Shmyhal to visit Canada

Kyiv: Planning to seek more arms and ammunition and armoured vehicles for a spring counter-offensive against invading Russian troops, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal will visit Canada soon, according to media reports that emerged on Friday. Shmyhal will visit Canada in coming weeks and the government in Kyiv is not divulging the date of the trip for security reasons. In an interview with a Canadian newspaper, Shmyhal said that he was not concerned about the lack of new military aid allocated for Ukraine in Canada’s federal budget, but he hoped the country would provide more aid among other forms of assistance. “Now, we need heavy armoured vehicles. And we need more artillery shells: ammunition for howitzers and ammunition for tanks,” Shmyhal said. “It’s crucially important for the organization of our counteroffensive,” Ukraine is expected to launch a counter-offensive to seize back land in the south and east of the country from Russian forces in the coming weeks or months. The Ukrainian prime minister was quoted by the media as saying Ukraine would also like Canada to offer war risk insurance to Canadian companies investing in Ukraine to support reconstruction and foreign investment. “So if a Canadian company will decide to invest money into Ukraine, we will ask the Canadian government to create some mechanism to support Canadian investments,” he said. This financial year, Ukraine faces an unprecedented budget deficit due to immense military spending to fight off Russia’s invasion and it is depending heavily on foreign financial aid. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government has been one of Ukraine’s most vocal international supporters and provided Kyiv with over C$5 billion ($3.70 billion) in financial and military aid. Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.