Once again, thank you for having us to discuss this very important matter.
I am here today with my colleagues to focus on an update on the situation in Ukraine and what the Canadian Forces and Global Affairs are doing in support of Ukraine but also in NATO and in support of our allies as well.
We are on day 13 of this crisis. The recent days have been devastating for the Ukrainian people and for their armed forces. They've also been quite concerning for all democracies, obviously. Since 2015 under Operation Unifier, our members of the Canadian Armed Forces have worked closely, side by side, with our Ukrainian counterparts. We've trained 30,000 of them to defend themselves in situations like the one they are living today.
Given the increasingly volatile situation in Ukraine, we have removed all of the Canadian Armed Forces personnel who were in Ukraine. We had about 240 personnel there not too long ago. They are now safe and sound outside of Ukraine. We will remain poised to go back to Ukraine to continue our training once the situation allows.
In support of Ukraine, the government has also announced a series of donations of military aid—you'll recall that four flights' worth were delivered before the crisis started—in addition to the $23 million in aid we've provided since 2015. Since the crisis started, we lately have started to resume our delivery of additional military equipment. Over the next few days, we are planning to deliver up to $75 million of new equipment. This will be in addition to some announcements you may have heard in recent days on additional military equipment that the CAF will be providing from our in-service inventory and for some equipment that had been declared surplus.
We also lately announced that we sent two military transport aircraft to Europe in order to help NATO and our allies move personnel and equipment around Europe, to reorganize the theatre in order to augment the deterrence of NATO, but also to help our allies move some military aid that is destined for Ukraine. So far, since last week, we've delivered five planeloads of military aid in support of other countries.
In addition to our support to Ukraine, we're also bolstering NATO's eastern flank to deter Russia against further aggression. Operation Reassurance is the Canadian Armed Forces operation in Europe in support of NATO and our allies. Under Op Reassurance, we are bolstering the NATO eastern flank by sending additional troops to Latvia, an additional frigate, and an additional maritime patrol aircraft in addition to the 800 CAF personnel who are already deployed in theatre.
The maritime patrol aircraft has already arrived in Europe and will be patrolling the Mediterranean waters to monitor the threats in that region. We have also started the deployment of our additional troops into Latvia. That deployment will occur over the next few weeks.
Finally, our additional frigate will be sailing out of the west coast in the next few weeks to rejoin the standing NATO maritime group in the weeks to come. That will be an additional frigate. This one will be the HMCS Halifax. That will be in addition to the HMCS Montreal , which is already in the Mediterranean Sea patrolling with the allied navies.
Finally, we have also put 3,400 CAF troops on high readiness to reinforce NATO, as needed. NATO is engaged in planning right now to increase deterrence and to defend against any aggression, if necessary.
We are in the early days of this crisis. We'll try to answer your questions as best we can, while understanding the evolving situation.
Thank you.
