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Questions surround Canada’s donation of air defence system for Ukraine one year on

The Canadian Press   

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A spokesperson for the Pentagon would not provide information on the status of the system, instead referring questions to Canadian officials.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says improving air defence is a top priority for his country in the new year, but getting air defence systems onto the battlefield has been slow.

The surface-to-air missile system Canada pledged to buy for Ukraine a year ago has not arrived and it’s not clear whether the federal government knows when it will be sent to Ukraine.

The Defence Department says Canada paid the U.S. government $406 million for the system last March.

A spokesperson for DND says the U.S. government has signed a contract with arms maker Raytheon to get it built.

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But Kongsberg, the other company involved in building those surface-to-air systems, says it has no contract with the U.S. or with Canada for the donation.

A spokesperson for the Pentagon would not provide information on the status of the system, instead referring questions to Canadian officials.

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