Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank all our witnesses for being here. David, thanks for filling in at the last minute; we see you a lot at this committee, and it's always great to have you and your matching tie and socks combination here. Merry early Christmas.
Ihor, it's nice to see you. I'm going to direct my first question to you and then ask the rest of the panellists if they wish to comment. So far, Canada has provided over $2.4 billion in aid for Ukraine since the war started in February 2022. Of course, there is a lot of funding there for Operation Unifier, for ammunition, for tanks, for some of the equipment that we talk about in this committee all the time and for the things that the Ukrainian army officials have told us very clearly that they need urgently.
I'm sure we're all aware of the 30-hour voting session that we had last week, in which we were fortunate enough to pass a vote for $500 million in support for Ukraine. That again included money for Operation Unifier, to train the Ukrainian soldiers and supply the army with the tools and equipment they need to win this war. They have to win this war.
We heard very clearly in the last hour from the ambassador that the support for training and for Unifier is so important.
I would ask you—Ihor, if you want to start—to talk about the importance of this funding and the need to continue to support Ukraine at this absolutely critical juncture.