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Canadian helping reform Ukrainian military says she’s not surprised by its resilience

Published

2 years ago

May 13, 2022

OTTAWA — Jill Sinclair has been wracked by a combination of anguish, sickness and anger as well as extraordinary pride as she has watched Ukrainians stand fast in the face of Russia’s invasion of their homeland. One thing she hasn’t felt, however, is surprise.

“Whenever I see how surprised people are about what the Ukrainian military is doing now, and what Ukraine is doing now as a people, a nation, a government, I’m not,” Sinclair says. “I say: ‘If you’d had your eyes open.’”

A former Canadian diplomat, Sinclair is Canada’s representative on a high-level advisory panel created by the Ukrainian government in 2016 to help the country reform its post-Soviet military from the top down.

That has meant that while Canadian soldiers trained Ukrainian counterparts in the field on how to move and fight, Sinclair was helping the government in Kyiv set up the structures and laws needed to field, sustain and control a modern military force.

“They had this massive reform agenda, which was everything from command and control to procurement to human resources management to how they do the promotion system,” she says in an interview. “They were having to overcome old Soviet-legacy systems.”

Such reforms are often foisted on countries in the developing world and elsewhere as a condition for receiving foreign aid from Western nations. Those requirements are often accompanied by advisory or oversight bodies staffed by foreigners.

“This is a board that was established by the Ukrainians,” says Sinclair, who is the only civilian on the six-member panel that also includes senior military officers from the U.S., Britain, Germany, Poland and Lithuania. “And I think that’s kind of the magic of it.”

The result is that the Defence Reform Advisory Board has survived through several changes in Ukraine’s government, including four different defence ministers over the past six years, all of whom have continued to consult the panel.

“They’ve all used the DRAB a lot,” Sinclair says. “There’s never been: ‘Oh my goodness, I wonder if they’ll decide that they don’t actually want to continue down this path any longer, and that they don’t need outside advice.’”

Many have attributed the push to modernize Ukraine’s military to the threat posed by Russia after Moscow seized the Crimea peninsula in 2014 and started supporting pro-Russian separatist forces in the eastern Donbas region.

Sinclair instead traces the impetus to the Revolution of Dignity, when millions of Ukrainians rose up in 2014 to oust the pro-Russian government in Kyiv, effectively breaking from Moscow’s control and turning Ukraine toward the rest of Europe.

The sentiments that drove the revolution have continued to propel those in power to work on the reforms needed to truly integrate Ukraine into the broader European community and ensure it doesn’t fall back under Russia’s sway, Sinclair says.

That has meant changes to not only the Ukrainian military, but the whole government. Sinclair specifically notes the work that was needed to obtain visa-free travel with the European Union, which included massive changes to Ukraine’s border agency.

“Anybody who’s been working with Ukraine over the last number of years knows they weren’t doing reform because they were being told to,” she says. “They were doing reform because they wanted to be a stronger, better, more resilient democracy.”

Such change has not been easy, and Sinclair says there have been setbacks and challenges amid efforts to adopt legislation and standards for military education and procurement, and civilian control over the Ukrainian armed forces.

“This whole idea that you could have certified military medics did not exist when the DRAB started,” she says. “I remember meeting and working with the minister of health in Ukraine because there were legislative changes needed first.”

The DRAB has continued to provide advice to the Ukrainian government and military officials even after Russia’s invasion, which Sinclair believes will be a catalyst to even faster reforms as Kyiv seeks to move farther away from Moscow.

While the war is far from over, with no guarantee when or how it will end, Sinclair sees some looming challenges that will need to be addressed. Those include how to properly demobilize back to a peacetime footing, and what to do about Ukrainian veterans.

“How do you deal with thousands and thousands of armed young men, mostly but not exclusively, after the war where they have won battles and hopefully won the war?” she says. “That is going to be a challenge.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 13, 2022.

Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press

News

Allen nets shutout as Devils burn Oilers 3-0

Published

3 hours ago

November 4, 2024

Anne Joseph

EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.

Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.

The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.

Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.

TAKEAWAYS

Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.

Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.

KEY MOMENT

New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.

KEY RETURN?

Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.

OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN

The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.

The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.

UP NEXT

Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.

Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.

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Mahomes throws 3 TD passes, unbeaten Chiefs beat Buccaneers 30-24 in OT

Published

3 hours ago

November 4, 2024

Anne Joseph

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.

DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.

Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.

Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.

Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.

It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.

The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.

Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.

Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.

The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”

Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.

The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.

Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.

UP NEXT

Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

Chiefs: Host the Denver Broncos on Sunday.

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AP NFL:

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NHL roundup: Kuemper helps visiting Kings shut out Predators 3-0

Published

3 hours ago

November 4, 2024

Anne Joseph

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Darcy Kuemper made 16 saves for his first shutout of the season and 32nd overall, helping the Los Angeles Kings beat the Nashville Predators 3-0 on Monday night.

Adrian Kempe had a goal and an assist and Anze Kopitar and Kevin Fiala also scored. The Kings have won two of their last three.

Juuse Saros made 24 saves for the Predators. They are 1-2-1 in their last four.

Kopitar opened the scoring with 6:36 remaining in the opening period. Saros denied the Kings captain’s first shot, but Kopitar collected the rebound below the goal line and banked it off the netminder’s skate.

Fiala, a former Predator, made it 2-0 35 seconds into the third.

The Kings held Nashville to just three third-period shots on goal, the first coming with 3:55 remaining and Saros pulled for an extra attacker.

Elsewhere in the NHL on Monday:

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DEVILS 3 OILERS 0

EDMONTON, Alta. (AP) — Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his NHL career, helping the New Jersey Devils close their western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.

Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored. The Devils improved to 8-5-2. They have won three of their last four after a four-game skid.

Calvin Pickard made 13 saves for Edmonton. The Oilers had won two straight.

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