Canada sending more artillery shells, aircraft bombs to Ukraine, defence minister says

Canada is sending more munitions to Ukraine, including artillery rounds and aircraft bombs, Defence Minister Bill Blair announced in Brussels on Wednesday.

The new package was unveiled at the beginning of a regular meeting of the allies that have been helping to arm the Eastern European country to withstand the full-scale invasion by Russian forces.

The announcement came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived at NATO headquarters to personally appeal to allied defence ministers for more weapons and munitions ahead of what's expected to be another tough winter of fighting in the eastern and southern regions of his country.

"We will speak about the priorities, how to push Russia out ... of the our native land. It means we will stop the war," Zelenskyy said upon his arrival, offering a preview of what he was planning to tell the gathering of defence ministers.

"We [will speak] about priorities for Ukraine for defending [the country, and] how to survive during this next winter. For us [this] is big, big, one of the biggest challenges."

After a multi-billion dollar military aid package for Ukraine was held up recently in the U.S. Congress, top political leaders were intent Wednesday on demonstrating continued solidarity with Ukraine.

"Your fight is our fight. Your security is our security and your values are our values," said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in welcoming Zelenskyy. "We will stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes."

Late Wednesday, Stoltenberg emerged from the closed-door meeting to announce a series of donations — including more details of a plan for Denmark and Belgium to provide modern F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. Denmark announced its jets will be delivered by spring 2024, while Belgium's donation of warplanes isn't expected until 2025.

Canada's latest donation includes 2,000 rounds of 155-millimetre artillery ammunition and 955 rounds of artillery smoke shells — meant to be fired out of the same howitzers.

The donation also includes 277 1,000-pound bombs, for use in close air support missions by the country's military aircraft.

The munitions are coming out of the Canadian military's existing stocks.

Over the last several weeks, a House of Commons committee has heard how ammunition stockpiles in Canada and allied countries are running low and production hasn't increased to compensate for donations.

Gen. Wayne Eyre, the chief of the defence staff, said he was very concerned about ammunition stocks. His warning came as the head of NATO's military council, Admiral Rob Bauer, noted that allied nations were getting to the "bottom of the barrel" in terms of the munitions they can provide.

Ukrainian forces are firing as many as 5,000 artillery rounds of various calibres per day. The U.S. is producing over 20,000 fresh rounds per month, while Canada is churning out just over 3,000 155-millimetre shells, the most common type used in big howitzers.

The latest donation means Canada has provided 10,000 155-millimetre rounds to Ukraine, in addition to 10,000 105-millimetre shells, and approximately two million rounds of 7.62 mm small arms ammunition.

On Wednesday, Stoltenberg said the state of ammunition stocks has been high on NATO's agenda for many months and that allies are dealing with their own munitions suppliers.

"So this is extremely important," Stoltenberg said. "I welcome the allies [who] are doing more and I urged them to sign more and more contracts because ... the signing of contacts can enable the industry to produce more and also to make investments in increased production capacity."

But Canada is an outlier among allies when it comes to hammering down agreements with companies that supply ammunition. Troy Crosby, the senior defence official in charge of material at the Department of National Defence, told a Commons committee last week that while a contract to manufacture shell casings has been signed, a overall contract to boost production has not yet been acquired.

Also part of Canada's aid package announced Wednesday is $25 million in winter clothing and equipment for Ukraine, including boots, thermal layers and winter sleeping bags. 

Additionally, the federal government plans to buy 2,000 sets of patterned military uniforms for female Ukraine soldiers. The uniforms will be manufactured in Canada. 

Since February 2022, Canada has committed over $2.4 billion in military assistance to Ukraine, including eight Leopard 2 main battle tanks and other armoured vehicles.