Canada to send Ukraine over 80,000 air-to-ground rockets

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — A United Kingdom Army AH-64 Apache helicopter destroys its target point with CRV7 rockets at the Barry M. Goldwater Range, located in Southern Arizona, May 3, 2014. (U.S. Army photo by Chief Warrant Officer James Marchetti via U.S. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service)

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada plans to send 80,840 surplus small unarmed air-to-surface rockets to Ukraine as well as 1,300 warheads in the coming months, Defense Minister Bill Blair said in a statement on Friday.

Canada announced an initial shipment of 2,160 unarmed CRV7 rockets in June. Each CRV7 rocket can be equipped with warheads designed variously to hit buildings, tanks or soldiers.

Canada will also donate chassis assemblies from 29 M113 armored personnel carriers and 64 Coyote armored cars, which the Canadian armed forces are no longer using, Blair said.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Canada has committed C$4.5 billion ($3.3 billion) in military aid.

($1 = 1.3509 Canadian dollars)



(Reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Editing by Matthew Lewis)