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Exclusive: Ukrainian general wants Canada’s 83,000 decommissioned rockets
A Ukrainian military leader is asking Canada to hand over tens of thousands of rockets that are awaiting demolition at a Saskatchewan military base.
In an exclusive interview with Global News, Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov urged the government to let Ukraine have the decommissioned CRV7 rockets.
Doing so would help Ukraine fend off Russian forces and save taxpayers the cost of destroying them, said Lt. Gen. Budanov, chief of the Ukrainian defence ministry’s intelligence directorate.
“We hope it will be a win-win situation,” he said.
More than 83,000 CRV7 ground attack rockets are warehoused at Canadian Forces Ammunition Depot Dundurn, south of Saskatoon.
While Canada no longer has any use for them, and has selected a private contractor to demolish them, Ukraine says it urgently needs them as its supplies of munitions diminish.
Lt. Gen. Budanov said the CRV7s would be used both in Ukrainian attack helicopters and ground launchers to target Russian tanks and artillery.
Ukraine has been discussing the issue with Canada but is still awaiting a decision, he said.
Canadian officials said they were looking into the request, but cautioned the CRV7s are decades old and could have become unstable, rendering them dangerous to handle and transport.
The Ukrainians argue they are in a dire predicament and are willing to assume the risks. They said they are accustomed to handling older munitions like the CRV7s.
“We have no concerns,” Lt. Gen. Budanov said.
Two years after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his disastrous invasion, Ukraine is desperately trying to replenish its military arsenal, particularly with munitions.
With neither side holding superiority in the air, the conflict has largely become an artillery battle and the Ukrainians have been scouring the world for whatever supplies they can find.
They believe that about 8,000 of the Canadian rockets are in pristine condition and that some are still fitted with warheads.
Those rockets that are no longer functional will be stripped of their parts for use in Ukraine’s drone program, the officials said.
“We need a lot of equipment, both ammunition, munitions in general, artillery munitions — lots of types of equipment,” Lt. Gen. Budanov said through an interpreter.
A Canadian military spokesperson acknowledged that 83,303 rockets — most of them tubes with rocket motors but no warheads — were awaiting disposal by a contractor.
Aside from concerns about whether they could be safely airlifted, giving them to Ukraine would mean breaking the contract with the disposal company, which has been building a special facility for the job.
Experts canvassed by Global News said rocket propellent had a limited lifespan and could become unstable after so many years.
But since the CRV7s use a solid fuel, they may still be safe, provided they had been stored properly and not exposed to moisture or contamination.
The issue arose in Ottawa on Friday, when the Conservatives said the Canadian military was sitting on the stockpile of rockets.
“Instead of making Canadians pay millions of dollars to decommission these weapons, common sense Conservatives are calling on the Trudeau government to give these weapons to Ukraine who can use them in the defence of their sovereignty,” the party said in a statement.
The Liberals accused Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre of “trying to cover up his weak stance on Ukraine by distracting Canadians.”
Defence Minister Bill Blair’s spokesperson said the government was “pursuing testing to ensure that this equipment is operationally effective and safe to transport to Ukraine before any potential donation.”
Ukrainian officials were disappointed to see the issue become politicized.
“Please send it to us as quickly as possible,” said the Ukrainian colonel who leads the team preparing to take possession of the CRV7s. He spoke on the condition he would not be named.
“We desperately need any type of ammunition we can get.”
The Canadian Rocket Vehicle, or CRV7, was manufactured by Winnipeg-based Bristol Aerospace and became the NATO standard.
“The power behind the CRV7 is the propellant,” Magellan Aerospace, which took over Bristol, said on its website. “CRV7 is longer range, faster time to target, and superior accuracy.”
Although Canada used CRV7s on aircraft like CF18s, Lt. Gen. Budanov said Ukraine had ground launchers capable of firing them.
Lt. Gen. Budanov, whose wife is recovering after she was allegedly poisoned by Russia, said the rockets would be used as the equivalent of field artillery.
Canadian veterans were working with Ukraine to help with the project, he added.
Asked if he was concerned that Ukraine’s allies were losing interest in the conflict after two years, he said, “It’s not a TV show, to be interested or not. It’s war.”
The Canadian government has committed more than $2.4 billion in military assistance to Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion on Feb. 24 2022.
That includes missiles as well as ammunition for small arms, artillery and battle tanks. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised Ukraine “unwavering support.”
But at a news conference in December, President Voldomyr Zelensky acknowledged his forces were running low of artillery shells.
That is where Canada’s CRV7s come in.
In 2021, the Canadian Armed Forces sought bidders for a contract to “collect, transport, destroy, demilitarize, recycle and dispose of” the CRV7s.
“The entire inventory of rocket motors was shelf-life expired and declared surplus in 2000,” the military said at the time.
“It was removed from the DND/CAF serviceable inventory in 2005 and made available for disposal by destruction.”
There are three types of rockets, according to the contract details: those fully intact and still packaged in their original shipping tube and boxes; scrap motors; and inert dummies.
A Canadian advisor to the Ukrainian military said she was rebuffed when she first approached Ottawa about giving the rockets to Ukraine instead of demolishing them.
“I was told that Canada has looked at it and decided it doesn’t have any value,” Kate McKenna, said.
“The CRV7s offer immense value to Ukraine’s defence.”
McKenna started a petition on the issue last December. The fact that Canada was sitting on the munitions “makes me kind of a bit salty,” she said.
“The rockets themselves are made up of a number of parts, including, the casing, the rocket fuel, the motor,” the former British Columbia resident said.
“Each one of those components can be repurposed by the Ukrainians. They are incredibly valuable,” said McKenna.
Ukraine has made similar appeals for junked military equipment to other countries, including Australia, which has 45 retired MRH-90 helicopters that Ukraine wants.
But Australia has deemed them unsafe, and intends to disassemble and bury the choppers, arguing getting them into working condition would be too costly.
“You don’t get to tell Ukraine what is or isn’t a good risk,” McKenna responded. “There are no good risks. Ukrainians are dying and we need to just be brave.”
“Trust Ukraine, trust them to make use of every single piece of that rocket, please. And Ukraine is ready to send over a team,” she said.
“They know what they’re doing.”
News
Draisaitl nets shootout winner as Oilers clip Canucks 3-2
EDMONTON – It may have been a victory, but the Edmonton Oilers feel they are still very much a work in progress.
Leon Draisaitl scored the shootout winner on a slapshot as the Oilers won their second straight pre-season game, defeating the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 on Monday.
Corey Perry and Ben Gleason also scored for the Oilers, who improved to 3-3 in NHL exhibition action.
“We just wanted to get our battle level up a little bit,” said Oilers captain Connor McDavid, who registered a pair of assists on the night. “I think everybody has another level that they can get to. Hopefully we will get there this week.
“We haven’t played much with our group. To get some rhythm and some camaraderie, all that stuff is important.”
A lot of the focus was on getting the first look of the new potentially powerhouse second line of Draisaitl, Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner.
“They are just getting used to each other right now,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch. “They had some good chances, probably not as many as you would expect in a game like tonight. But it was a good first step.”
Arshdeep Bains and Nate Smith replied for the Canucks (2-2-1), who have lost three in a row.
“It’s not about the win or loss, the group really did a great job,” said Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet, whose team dressed the less experienced lineup. “I’m really proud of the way they played. I just like the way that they stuck with it. That is a good hockey club over there, and I think we did a nice job.”
There was no scoring in a rather relaxed first period, with Edmonton putting eight shots on Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen and Vancouver responding with seven on Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner.
Vancouver broke the deadlock six minutes into the second period on the power play as Kiefer Sherwood made a nice pass from the side of the net out to Bains, who unleashed a bullet before Skinner could get across.
Edmonton almost responded a few minutes later as Perry was sent in alone, but he was unable to deke his way past Lankinen.
The Canucks led 16-15 on the shot clock through 40 minutes.
The Oilers tied the game four minutes into the third period as Perry swept out in front of the net and made a nice move and got the puck behind Lankinen this time.
Edmonton surged ahead on the power play midway through the third as McDavid sent it back to Gleason who sent a hard wrist shot into the net with Arvidsson providing a screen in front.
However, Vancouver answered back just 19 seconds later as Smith deftly redirected a Kirill Kudryavtsev shot through Skinner’s legs, eventually sending the game to extra time.
Vancouver had a wide-open net to shoot for late in overtime, but Draisaitl lifted Daniel Sprong’s stick at the last second.
NOTES
It was the first meeting between the two teams since the Oilers defeated the Canucks 3-2 in Game 7 of their second-round playoff series in May … Edmonton released veteran forward Mike Hoffman from a PTO on Monday, and the Canucks did likewise with PTO invite Sammy Blais … The Oilers are down to 36 players (five injured) in camp and are hoping to trim to 27 players before the team’s final two pre-season games. Defenceman Darnell Nurse is expected to be back for one of the two final tilts, and backup goalie Calvin Pickard is expected to return to the ice in a few days after taking a hit to the head on Saturday against Seattle … Vancouver star forward J.T. Miller has skated all camp, but has yet to suit up for a game, while defenceman Quinn Hughes has played just one.
UP NEXT
Canucks: Host the Oilers on Friday.
Oilers: Visit the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 30, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
News
Dockworkers at ports from Maine to Texas go on strike, a standoff risking new shortages
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Dockworkers at ports from Maine to Texas began walking picket lines early Tuesday in a strike over wages and automation that could reignite inflation and cause shortages of goods if it goes on more than a few weeks.
The contract between the ports and about 45,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association expired at midnight, and even though progress was reported in talks on Monday, the workers went on strike. The strike affecting 36 ports is the first by the union since 1977.
Workers began picketing at the Port of Philadelphia shortly after midnight, walking in a circle at a rail crossing outside the port and chanting “No work without a fair contract.”
The union had message boards on the side of a truck reading: “Automation Hurts Families: ILA Stands For Job Protection.”
The U.S. Maritime Alliance, which represents the ports, said Monday evening that both sides had moved off of their previous wage offers, but when picket lines went up just after midnight, it was apparent that no deal had been reached.
The union’s opening offer in the talks was for a 77% pay raise over the six-year life of the contract, with President Harold Daggett saying it’s necessary to make up for inflation and years of small raises. ILA members make a base salary of about $81,000 per year, but some can pull in over $200,000 annually with large amounts of overtime.
But Monday evening, the alliance said it had increased its offer to 50% raises over six years, and it pledged to keep limits on automation in place from the old contract. The union wants a complete ban on automation. It wasn’t clear just how far apart both sides are.
“We are hopeful that this could allow us to fully resume collective bargaining around the other outstanding issues in an effort to reach an agreement,” the alliance statement said.
The union didn’t answer requests for comment on the talks Monday night, but said earlier in the day that the ports had refused demands for a fair contract and the alliance seemed intent on a strike. The two sides had not held formal negotiations since June.
The alliance said its offer tripled employer contributions to retirement plans and strengthened health care options.
During the day Monday, some ports already were preparing for a strike. The Port of Virginia, for instance, was in the process of ceasing operations. It accepted the last inbound train for delivery at 8 a.m., closed its gates to inbound trucks at noon and required ships to leave by 1 p.m. Cargo operations halted at 6 p.m.
“We are handling this just like we would during the ramp up to a possible hurricane,” Joe Harris, the port’s spokesperson, told The Associated Press. “And we will bring it back online just as we would recovering from a hurricane. We have an experienced team. We’ve done this in the past.”
Supply chain experts say consumers won’t see an immediate impact from the strike because most retailers stocked up on goods, moving ahead shipments of holiday gift items.
But if it goes more than a few weeks, a work stoppage would significantly snarl the nation’s supply chain, potentially leading to higher prices and delays in goods reaching households and businesses.
If drawn out, the strike will force businesses to pay shippers for delays and cause some goods to arrive late for peak holiday shopping season — potentially impacting delivery of anything from toys or artificial Christmas trees to cars, coffee and fruit.
The strike will likely have an almost immediate impact on supplies of perishable imports like bananas, for example. The ports affected by the strike handle 3.8 million metric tons of bananas each year, or 75% of the nation’s supply, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.
It also could snarl exports from East Coast ports and create traffic jams at ports on the West Coast, where workers are represented by a different union. Railroads say they can ramp up to carry more freight from the West Coast, but analysts say they can’t make up the cargo handled to the east.
“If the strikes go ahead, they will cause enormous delays across the supply chain, a ripple effect which will no doubt roll into 2025 and cause chaos across the industry,” noted Jay Dhokia, founder of supply chain management and logistics firm Pro3PL.
J.P. Morgan estimated that a strike that shuts down East and Gulf coast ports could cost the economy $3.8 billion to $4.5 billion per day, with some of that recovered over time after normal operations resume.
The strike comes just weeks before the presidential election and could become a factor if there are shortages. Retailers, auto parts suppliers and produce importers had hoped for a settlement or that President Joe Biden would intervene and end the strike using the Taft-Hartley Act, which allows him to seek an 80-day cooling off period.
But during an exchange with reporters on Sunday, Biden, who has worked to court union votes for Democrats, said “no” when asked if he planned to intervene in the potential work stoppage.
A White House official said Monday that at Biden’s direction, the administration has been in regular communication with the ILA and the alliance to keep the negotiations moving forward. The president directed Chief of Staff Jeff Zients and National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard to convene the alliance’s board members Monday afternoon and urge them to resolve the dispute fairly and quickly — in a way that accounts for the success of shipping companies in recent years and contributions of union workers.
____
Krisher in reported from Detroit. AP Writers Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia, Mae Anderson in New York, Stephen Groves in Dover, Delaware, Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit, and Zeke Miller and Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.
News
How one preschool uses PAW Patrol to teach democracy
ANNANDALE, Va. (AP) — As lawmakers voted on a budget deal at the U.S. Capitol, a different kind of balloting was taking place a dozen miles away in a sun-filled Virginia preschool classroom. At stake: which animated dog was the best character on the cartoon “PAW Patrol.”
In a heated primary, the 3-and-4-year-old students in room 14 at the ACCA Child Development Center had narrowed it down to two finalists: Chase, a German shepherd who wears a police uniform, and Skye, who wears a pink “pup pack” and is a favorite among girls in the class. The children cast votes by scrawling their names in crayon beneath pictures of the two characters. By mid-morning, it was a dead heat: five votes to five.
Benejas Abeselome, 4, put his name down for Chase.
“Police take bad guys,” Benejas said. “I wanted police because I like policing.”
It will be years before these youngsters vote in a real election, but ACCA is one of many preschools around the country that have been starting students early on civics education. The goal is nothing short of raising good citizens and strengthening democracy.
At this age, children are not learning about the three branches of government or how a bill becomes a law. Teachers are working with them on how to solve problems with classmates, how to deal with anger or disappointment without being hurtful and how to think about others’ needs. These are lessons, teachers say, that can be difficult to draw from grown-up politicians — especially during a vitriolic campaign season.
“We’re all here to help develop these children to become better citizens … to be better problem-solvers and to be better equipped socially, emotionally,” said Mary Folks, a teacher at the school. “Because once they have a handle on that, I feel like things they accomplish and things they do will have a better impact on this world.”
The most important civics lesson preschools can impart is “social democracy,” said Dan Gartrell, an early education expert. His book on teaching preschoolers about democracy, “Education for a Civil Society,” is used by ACCA and other preschools.
It “starts with appreciating each member of the group as a worthy member and worthy of expressing thoughts and ideas,” Gartrell said. From there, he said, children can learn to treat their peers with kindness, resolve conflicts and negotiate difficult situations without using hurtful words.
Engaging with toddlers in ways that make them feel their voice matters is important groundwork, said Rachel Robertson, the chief academic officer for Bright Horizons, which runs more than 1,000 preschool centers globally and embraces democratic ideals in its early education approach.
Around ages 3 or 4, a child is “starting to be a real community member and contributing to the classroom community and thinking a little bit broader about the world,” Robertson said.
At ACCA, like many preschools, youngsters are given a lot of autonomy. There are hours dedicated to free play. Children get to vote on what they study and eat: A classroom had just finished studying sand because children were curious about it after summer beach trips. And students get to sample apples and vote on which variety the school will order.
It’s all intended to affirm to children that their thoughts are valuable — along with those of their classmates. On this Thursday, they all were thinking about “PAW Patrol.”
In Room 11, 3-year-old Jade, who donned pink sneakers that lit up when she stepped, explained why she was backing Skye.
“I like her helicopter,” Jade said. “I like that she saves everybody.”
In Room 13, teachers created ballots in English and Spanish. When they asked the class who had won the election, one boy confidently piped up: “Me!”
Many of the preschool’s students represent the first generation of their families born in the United States. María-Isabel Ballivian, the preschool’s executive director, said she looks for ways to remind them they are American, even if their families don’t speak English and only recently arrived from other countries. For one, she throws a large Fourth of July gathering.
“If we give them now that sense of belonging, that’s going to be a tool that they will have to become resilient once they face discrimination,” Ballivian said.
Ballivian said many politicians could learn something from coming back to preschool — things like how to weather disappointment and how to think about the well-being of people who are unlike them.
“I don’t see how we can change the adults,” Ballivian said. “But I do know, if we work hard, we can prepare our children for a better future.”
Back in room 14, there was an important development. Another student named Janet had cast her ballot, writing her name under Skye’s photo with a backwards ‘J.’ The students counted the votes aloud. Skye emerged victorious.
___
Associated Press journalists Nathan Ellgren and Almaz Abedje contributed to this article.
___
The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
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