Canada to send troops to Poland to help Ukraine refugees

Canada will send up to one hundred and fifty troops on a humanitarian task to Poland to help its big inflow of Ukrainians who fled Russia’s invasion in their us of a, protection minister Anita Anand introduced Thursday.

With extra than half of of Ukraine’s over 4.7 million asylum seekers having long gone to neighboring Poland, the NATO ally is dealing with a refugee crisis and has requested for help.

Only a hundred of the overall number of troops assigned to the project might be deployed at once, Anand told a news conference at Trenton Air Force Base in Ontario, adding that they might “assist Poland’s efforts to help and care for Ukrainians fleeing violence.”

The soldiers, who are fluent in Ukrainian, are to be sent to frontline reception centers across Poland to “provide general support, spiritual services and limited medical care,” she said.

They will also support a Poland-led humanitarian task force, and help resettle Ukrainians in Canada.

Ottawa last month said it would take in an unlimited number of Ukrainian refugees, and has so far approved 30,000 applications under new special immigration rules for Ukrainians.

But best 12,000 Ukrainians have landed in Canada below the degree and other migrant applications for the reason that the start of the year, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser stated currently.

In its budget last week, the Canadian authorities also earmarked a further Can$1 billion (US$800 million) in loans for Ukraine thru the International Monetary Fund and Can$500 million (US$400 million) in military aid.