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Canada's aid pledge after the Kakhovka dam breach
Summary
A look back at how Ottawa paired military and humanitarian support for Ukraine in the days after the dam collapse.
What did Western support look like in the days after the Kakhovka Dam was breached? By 16 June 2023, Canada had already offered one answer.
On 10 June 2023, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a $500 million military aid package for Ukraine, including 288 AIM-7 missiles. The same announcement included a $10 million humanitarian package to help victims of the dam collapse.
The dam breach
The Kakhovka Dam was breached in the early hours of 6 June 2023, causing extensive flooding along the lower Dnipro in Kherson Oblast. The dam was under the control of the Russian military, which had seized it in the early days of the full-scale invasion. Many experts concluded that Russian forces likely blew up a segment of it to hinder the planned Ukrainian counter-offensive. Ukraine specifically blamed Russia's 205th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, while Russian authorities denied the accusations.
Two tracks in one package
The Canadian announcement combined military and humanitarian assistance. The larger sum went to weapons, including the missiles. The smaller one was aimed at people affected by the flooding. Four days after the breach, Ottawa was addressing both the war effort and its civilian consequences.
