OTTAWA: Canada on Tuesday imposed new sanctions over Russia's invasion in Ukraine and pledged fresh military support for Kyiv after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in Toronto.
As the two leaders met, Trudeau's official website was shut down and the Canadian spy service acknowledged that "some" other government pages had also been offline.
Canada will send 21,000 assault rifles, 38 machine guns and 2.4 million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine sourced from Colt Canada, while the new sanctions would target 14 Russian individuals and 34 entities.
Trudeau said Canada was also imposing sanctions on nine entities tied to the Belarusian financial sector to further pressure Russia's "enablers in Belarus."
Russia calls its actions Ukraine a "special military operation" to combat what it describes as a security threat from Ukraine's ties to the West.
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"We will continue to support Ukraine with everything needed for as long as necessary," Trudeau said.
"Ukraine feels the colossal support of Canada in every area... and we really appreciate it," said Shmyhal, the highest ranking Ukrainian to visit Canada since the start of the war over a year ago.
The two discussed a range of subjects including further military support and reconstruction efforts in Ukraine, before signing a joint declaration to modernize trade between the two countries.
The prime minister's official website on Tuesday morning showed a "service is unavailable" error when checked by Reuters. Trudeau said the cyber attacks were an "unsurprising" act by Russian hackers.
"It's not uncommon for Russian hackers to target countries as they are showing their steadfast support for Ukraine," Trudeau said, adding that Canada was not going to be dissuaded by such attacks.
"We are aware of reports that some Government of Canada websites have been offline," a spokesperson for Canada's Communications Security Establishment (CSE) said in a statement, and echoed Trudeau's comment that it not an uncommon occurrence in countries hosting visits by Ukrainian government officials.
"While these incidents draw attention, they have very little impact on the systems affected," the CSE spokesperson said.
Canada has been one of the most vocal supporters of Ukraine and committed more than C$8 billion ($5.94 billion) to Ukraine in financial, military, humanitarian and other assistance since January 2022, just before the February invasion.
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