Canada will join the drone coalition for Ukraine initiated by Latvia

On Wednesday, 7 March, during the meeting with Latvian defence minister Andris Sprūds, Bill Blair, Canada’s Minister of National Defence, expressed Canada’s intent to join the drone coalition for Ukraine formed by Latvia.

“Latvia highly welcomes Canada’s interest in joining drone coalition for Ukraine. With another Ally on board, we will be able to move closer to the goal of supplying. This decision reflects the strong bilateral relations between our countries and Canada’s commitment to continued support for Ukraine. Scaling up of the Canada-led NATO enhanced battle group Latvia to brigade is crucial for mutual cooperation in the long run,” Andris Sprūds, Defence Minister of Latvia, underlined.

Andris Sprūds met with his Canadian counterpart in Ottawa to discuss the Canada-Latvia military cooperation and current security challenges.

Latvian and Canadian defence officials exchanged views on future cooperation priorities stemming from NATO eFP battlegroup scale up to brigade, forthcoming NATO Summit in Washington, support provided to Ukraine by both countries and Latvia’s border defence strategy.

Defence ministers of Latvia and Canada also discussed cyber security cooperation and Latvia’s participation in NATO Climate Change and Security Centre of Excellence in Canada.

As announced earlier, Defence Minister Sprūds was in Canada on 6-8 March on a working visit, taking part in the Ottawa Conference on Security & Defence and series of bilateral meetings.

Latvia and Canada signed a road map taking stock of previous achievements and detailing further steps towards scaling up of Canadian-led NATO eFP Battlegroup Latvia to a brigade in July of 2023. Signing took place at the Camp Ādaži. Brigade is expected to reach a steady phase (full combat readiness) by 2026.

Canada has also announced it deploy a Canadian Army Tank Squadron of 15 Leopard 2 battle tanks and support personnel in Latvia to significantly increase its military presence in the region.

Earlier, on 14 February, Latvia, Ukraine, Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden signed a Letter of Intent on drone coalition. The United Kingdom joined the initiative on 15 February.

Latvia intends to make a 10 million euro annual contribution towards drone coalition.  Members of the drone coalition aim to provide 1 million drones for Ukraine. Signatory parties to the Letter of Intent agree to commit resources towards manufacturing of drones, supply drones and spare parts to Ukraine, conduct testing of completed drones and training of personnel, as well as implementing other technologies.

MoD Military Public Affairs Department
Media Relations Section
Phone: 67335393
E-mail: prese@mod.gov.lv