Good morning. Good morning, everyone. Good morning, Mr. President, dear Volodymyr, esteemed delegation, the Ukrainian government. When Russia began its illegal, barbaric, full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin made a series of rash predictions: victory in 72 hours and four days to take Kyiv. It was two weeks, and a month… six months. He thought the Ukrainian state would crumble, that the will of the Ukrainian people could be broken. Mr. President, as you know, it's been four years, 198 days of courageous resistance. Ukraine will never submit.
Mr. President, a year ago, I had the honour of standing next to you in Kyiv's Sofiiska Square, the centre over centuries of Ukraine's many battles for liberty and celebrations of your freedoms. And my message then is the same as today: Canada will always stand in solidarity with Ukraine. Canada will always be with you, so your sacrifices, sacrifices of your people, lead to the peace, security and prosperity that all Ukrainians, that all peoples around the world deserve. Canadians understand in our bones the importance of your struggle. There's no qualification to our commitment, because your cause — freedom, democracy, sovereignty — is our cause, and your history informs our history.
It's a great honour to host you here in my home province of Alberta, here on the Canadian Prairies, where the horizon looks like the Ukrainian flag. Growing up in Alberta, my classmates bore your names. Their parents and grandparents spoke your language. It's not surprising, because Ukrainian people first settled here before Alberta became a province in Canada — settled here in 1893. They plowed the fields, built the schools and the churches, opened the businesses, put down roots, and they remembered their heritage even as they became Canadians. Today, over 350,000 Canadians of Ukrainian descent call Alberta home, including 70,000 right here in Calgary.
Now, Calgary is also home to some of Canada's largest and most innovative companies, and its ingenuity developed in places like the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. Back during the Second World War, SAIT housed the Commonwealth's largest wireless radio training centre. Thousands of young Canadians connected armies across the Atlantic by mastering what was then a new technology to help win a war. And today, we're writing the next chapter of that story here. We are at a critical moment in this war. Ukraine is now utilizing aerial threats from more than 600 kilometres away. While Russia depends on authoritarian regimes to fuel its war machine, Ukraine is building entire industries on its own. And just like the victory in Europe that this institute contributed to 80 years ago, Ukraine's fate will hinge on what we do now — to support the Ukrainian people in defending their territory, to achieve a just and lasting peace.
When he launched his brutal illegal war, Putin had the advantage of every conventional measure of military power. Not least, not least because Ukraine had agreed to drastically reduce its arsenal in the wake of the breakup of the Soviet Union. But what Ukraine lacked in firepower is more than made up in ingenuity and courage. Engineers have designed new airframes. Welders have sold their defence. Students have transformed basements and bunkers into test labs. Amongst others, drones have been at the centre of these efforts. In just four years, Ukraine has built a world-leading drone industry, redefining the future of defence and security. Your drones, costing a few hundred dollars, have sunk warships worth hundreds of millions. Ukraine is constantly innovating, and it's now on track to build more drones than China, Russia and every NATO member. Canada can learn from you. We can continue to work together, and we can expand our partnership to defend your freedom and to defend ours.
In 2015, the Canadian Armed Forces began training the Ukrainian security forces through Operation UNIFIER. Our troops lent their expertise and advanced military skills, including tactical medical training and combat engineering. And now, as Canada undertakes our largest defence rearmament in 70 years, drones will be at the forefront of our mission to build Canada strong, Canada safe, Canada secure. Mr. President, I have to confess that our armed forces currently have 2,000 drones in our inventory. In the years to come, we will need millions. So, earlier this year, our government, the Canadian government, launched the Defence Drone Initiative to expand domestic drone manufacturing. This initiative will deliver safe, reliable and world-class drone systems for the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian Coast Guard, and will draw on Canadian expertise. It's drawing on that expertise across aerospace, robotics, artificial intelligence and secure communications. And now, we have that framework in place.
So, we're taking three major steps to build Canada's sovereign drone capabilities and, in the process, deepen our partnership with Ukraine. First, right here at home. Based on the successful model that you've developed, we are launching a national drone marketplace, giving individual units of the Canadian Armed Forces direct access to nearly 400 trusted Canadian suppliers, so that those units can obtain the drones they need, when they need them. We're starting now. This is a key part of our plan to build industrial capacity here in Canada to produce millions of drones within the next two years. And today's contracts will increase the number of drones available to the CAF tenfold. Importantly, one third of all the drones we manufacture will go to support Ukraine's defence of its homeland.
Secondly, we're building business-to-business ties. We're partnering Canadian companies with Ukraine's world-leading drone manufacturers. Building on last summer's agreement between Sentinel R&D and Airlogix, today General Dynamics Mission Systems–Canada and GreenTech are signing a new agreement of their own that will further strengthen our nations' industrial cooperation. As a result, our industry in Canada will learn from the most battle-tested developers on Earth. And thirdly, nation to nation. Canada and Ukraine are forging a long-term partnership to jointly produce uncrewed systems, counter-drone technologies, priority munitions, combining your battlefield experience with Canadian manufacturing software and AI. Together, we will build the capabilities our militaries need. We'll create good jobs in our countries, we'll support Ukraine on the battlefield, and we will strengthen the sovereignty of both of our nations.
Since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Canada has been one of the largest donors per capita. Our support has been consistent and diversified, from sanctions against Russia, to equipment for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, to development assistance for civilians in need. We have allocated nearly $9 billion in military aid — including $2 billion this year — for Leopard tanks and howitzers, hundreds of thousands of rounds of artillery ammunition, medical kits, and body armour for the women and men on the front lines.
As we meet today, Russia has been escalating its barbaric aerial warfare, indiscriminately targeting civilian populations. Ukraine's air defences are ever more critical. And that's why earlier today, Canada and Ukraine finalized an agreement to deliver critical air defence interceptors through the United States Jumpstart mechanism. This $350 million equipment package will help protect Ukraine's people, its infrastructure, its skies. In addition to our defence cooperation, Canada and Ukraine are also focusing their efforts on key sectors. Canada will contribute to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund to repair energy infrastructure, increase storage capacity, and supply hospitals. To help Ukrainians get through the winter, Canada will provide more than $430 million in loan guarantees for gas purchases. And we are going to work more closely together on energy and critical minerals to ensure the reliability of supply chains. We are working with our European allies on a pooled funding initiative to support Ukrainian veterans, and we are coordinating our efforts to rebuild critical infrastructure across Ukraine.
Today, as you've just seen, Canada and Ukraine are looking beyond this war to the century ahead. President Zelenskyy and I have just signed a declaration for a 100-year partnership. In the coming months, we'll codify a long-term framework for cooperation across defence and security, trade and investment, reconstruction, energy, critical minerals and technology. Our two nations have been connected since 1893. This is a relationship that has flourished over 100 years, and it will flourish in the century ahead, long after this war ends. Ukrainians helped build Canada, and Canadians will help rebuild Ukraine. We'll work together to strengthen our economies, our security, our sovereignty. This is a commitment not simply to Ukraine's victory, as essential as that is, but it's also a commitment to the future — your future as a secure, prosperous and independent European democracy.
Canada has learned the lessons of history. We know that Putin can never be trusted. Since the Minsk agreements — and even this morning — Putin has broken his word time and again. Putin is threatening your airspace and your cities, and he is destroying your fields. Every indiscriminate attack; every strike against a hospital, a shopping mall, or a residential building; every order given to abduct children bears his signature.
To finish, Mr. President, when I stood with you in Kyiv, I said that when peace comes, we will not just simply trust and verify. We'll deter and fortify. Deter Russia from thinking that they can ever again threaten Ukraine's and Europe's freedom, fortify the Ukrainian armed forces that have fought so valiantly and for so long, because your fight is our fight. Your struggle is our cause. Your independence will be our victory too. Slava Ukraini!
