Russian Antonov grounded in Canada. “If we win the trial, we will hand it over to Ukraine.”

Canada has filed a lawsuit to seize the Russian-registered Antonov An-124 transport aircraft, which has been grounded in Toronto since 2022; If we win this case, we will hand over the machine to Ukraine, said the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Anita Anand. An-124 is one of the largest transport aircraft in the world.

– The Antonov plane is a symbol of responsibility. Those who enable Russia to wage war will face consequences, and Ukraine will not be left to its own devices, Anand said at a press conference on Friday, quoted by Bloomberg.

– Russia destroyed some of the Ukrainian Antonov planes that were in Ukraine at the beginning of the war. In a sense, it is a complement to the Antonov fleet, she added.

The head of Canadian diplomacy condemned Russia's strategy of carrying out “barbaric attacks on the Ukrainian civilian population and civilian infrastructure, kindergartens, apartment blocks, seniors' homes and hospitals”, as well as attacking Ukrainian energy infrastructure. She announced that Canada will accelerate the implementation of the last tranche of aid worth CAD 10 million to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund. It will be intended to repair facilities damaged by Russian attacks. In total, Canadian support for this purpose amounted to CAD 70 million.

The plane belongs to the Russian cargo airline Volga-Dnepr Airlines, on which Canada has imposed sanctions. Canadian officials previously warned that Russia could use the machine to deliver supplies to its troops in its war against Ukraine. (PAP)

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