Kiev is free to use donated Leopard tanks and other combat vehicles during its incursion into Kursk Region, Ottawa has said
Ukraine has been given approval to use Canadian-donated tanks and armored vehicles on Russian soil, according to a statement by Canada’s Department of National Defense on Thursday. Kiev is currently waging a large-scale incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region.
Ottawa has donated to Kiev a total of eight German-made Leopard 2A4 tanks as well several dozen armored combat vehicles, hundreds of armored patrol vehicles, and several M-777 howitzers. Last month, the Canadian government also announced an additional $367 million military aid package for Kiev.
“Ukrainians know best how to defend their homeland, and we’re committed to supporting their capacity,” Canadian Defense Department spokesperson Andree-Anne Pulin told the media on Thursday.
“Canada places no geographic restrictions on the use of military equipment that we donate to Ukraine,” Pulin added.
It is unclear how much, if any, donated Canadian equipment is currently being used in Kiev’s incursion into Kursk Region, which it launched on August 6, marking the largest Ukrainian cross-border offensive since the outbreak of the conflict in 2022.
Russia’s Defense Ministry has reported that the Ukrainian advance has since been halted and that Kiev has suffered considerable losses during the operation. Moscow has estimated that Ukraine has lost some 2,600 troops and hundreds of pieces of military hardware units, including 37 tanks and 32 armored personnel carriers since the start of the offensive.
Moscow has shared several videos of Russian forces destroying Western-supplied equipment operated by Ukraine in Kursk Region, including US-provided HIMARS systems, Stryker combat vehicles and Bradley APCs.
According to Kursk acting governor Aleksey Smirnov, some 28 residential areas are currently under Ukrainian control. He has also reported that 12 civilians have been killed and over 120 have been wounded during the incursion. As many as 120,000 residents have been forced to flee their homes and the fate of nearly 2,000 people is unknown, according to the governor.
Moscow has condemned Kiev’s offensive as a “terrorist” operation and a “large-scale provocation.” Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Ukraine of “indiscriminately” targeting civilians, residential areas and ambulances and stressed that no peace talks can be possible while it continues such attacks.
Russian officials have also repeatedly condemned the West for continuing to provide military support to Kiev, arguing that the Ukraine conflict is effectively a proxy war being waged by NATO against Russia, in which Ukrainians serve as ‘cannon fodder.’
