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… General Jennie Carignan, the first woman to lead Canada’s Armed Forces, says Ottawa remains committed to Ukraine’s long-term defense while adapting support to the evolving realities of modern warfare.

Carignan, who joined the Canadian Army in 1986 and has served in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Iraq, and Syria, told Kyiv Post on the sidelines of the Kyiv Security Forum that Canada’s military cooperation with Ukraine has been ongoing since 2015 and will continue “in various different ways,” including training, equipment, and ammunition supplies.

She said she is in regular contact with Ukraine’s Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief, Oleksandr Syrsky, to align priorities, and that both sides are “definitely focused on air defense systems and ammunition.” She confirmed that additional deliveries are expected in the coming months, including air defense systems, armored vehicles, medical evacuation vehicles, and various types of ammunition.

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Carignan said Canadian forces are working with Ukrainian troops in Poland as part of Operation Unifier. She added that the program has evolved significantly in response to battlefield realities, particularly around drone and electronic warfare. Canada has shifted toward training Ukrainian instructors rather than only frontline soldiers.

“You can be a very good combatant, but becoming an instructor to pass on those skills and knowledge is another story,” she said, adding that this approach allows Ukrainian experience to be embedded more effectively into training systems.

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Carignan acknowledged that Ukraine is actively reshaping modern warfare and said Canada is “learning so much” from its Ukrainian counterparts.

“In those training institutions where we interact with Ukrainian Armed Forces, we are learning a lot from them directly, and we also organize specific working groups where that knowledge is also passed, so that we can integrate that as part of our modernization efforts.”

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On broader NATO-Russia tensions, Carignan said the alliance is closely monitoring Russian activity.

“If Russia can attempt to seize territory in Ukraine, this expansionist view can happen somewhere else,” she said, stressing that NATO would be ready for “any type of threat,” and that Ukraine’s success remains strategically important for the alliance.

She framed a Ukrainian victory in broader geopolitical terms – “topping Russian expansionist views” and representing “a victory for democracy, and the victory of freedom over authoritarian governments.”

“It means a safer Europe as well,” she added, with direct relevance for Canada given Russian activity in the Arctic region.

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