Prime Minister Mark Carney and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a declaration in Calgary on Thursday establishing a 100-year partnership between Canada and Ukraine. Under the agreement, Canada has committed to expanding its domestic drone production capacity, with one-third of the output dedicated to supporting Ukraine‘s defense. A similar partnership agreement was signed by the United Kingdom last year.
According to Mark Carney, the two sides will develop a long-term framework in the coming months for cooperation in defense, security, trade, investment, reconstruction, energy, critical minerals, and technology. Canada will also launch a national drone market modeled on the Ukrainian system. This will provide the Canadian Armed Forces with direct access to approximately 400 suppliers, which the Prime Minister estimates will increase the number of available military drones tenfold. “This is a key part of our plan to build industrial capacity to produce millions of drones over the next two years,” Mark Carney noted.
Production cooperation and defense needs
General Dynamics Mission Systems Canada and GreenTech have entered into an agreement to strengthen industrial cooperation. The joint production of unmanned systems, counter-drone technologies, and priority ammunition will combine Ukrainian battlefield experience with Canadian manufacturing capacity, software, and artificial intelligence. Furthermore, Canada and Ukraine finalized a 350 million Canadian dollar (254 million US dollar) deal to supply anti-aircraft interceptor missiles through the Jumpstart mechanism, and allocated 430 million Canadian dollars in guaranteed loans for natural gas purchases.
On Thursday, Russia launched a drone attack on a shopping center in Pavlohrad, killing four people and injuring more than 60. Dozens more were injured by airstrikes in Kramatorsk. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated on X that the government is working as intensively as possible with partners to protect Ukrainians from Russian terror. Despite Ukraine‘s ability to intercept a significant portion of Russian UAVs, the country faces a dangerous shortage of modern missiles to counter ballistic attacks. Meanwhile, Ukraine has stepped up strikes on Russian energy facilities; on Wednesday, Ukrainian drones attacked gas assets in Russia‘s Arctic region for the first time.
Source: Bloomberg
