Members of the Canadian Special Operations Force Command stand at attention at the naming ceremony for the new Canadian Special Operations Force Command Patrol Base, Cirillo, in Iraq in this handout photo taken November 6, 2014, and provided by the Canadi
Members of the Canadian Special Operations Force Command stand at attention at the naming ceremony for the new Canadian IN PHOTO: Special Operations Force Command Patrol Base, Cirillo, in Iraq in this handout photo taken November 6, 2014, and provided by the Canadian Forces. Cirillo, 24, was one of two soldiers killed in a pair of attacks that Canadian police said were carried out independently by radical recent converts to Islam. The assaults took place as Canada's military was stepping up its involvement in air strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq. Reuters/Canadian Forces, DND/H

Canada has sent a group of 10 soldiers to Ukraine to help train the latter's military police as well as medical personnel against futurae Russian incursion incidents. An unidentified defence official maintained to the Canadian Press the group's presence in Ukraine nowadays isn't a prelude to any future deployment of Canadian soldiers.

Rob Nicholson, federal Defence Minister who was in Kyiv on Monday, said the 10 soldiers are just part of a "number that have come and gone in support of various missions and the military police." He stressed they will arrive in Ukraine to help out and then will leave. "This is a continuing effort."

The deployment of the 10 Canadian soldiers, however, was not part and parcel of NATO's military assistance to Ukraine, the Globe and Mail said. Nicholson had revealed it was part of Canadian initiative to create deeper defence ties with Ukraine and was contained under a signed declaration of broader military co-operation between the two countries. Apart from helping train Ukrainian military police and medical personnel, the Canadian soldiers will also assist their Ukrainian counterparts how to beef up their country's security measures.

The signed declaration of intent, which should not be considered a legal binding treaty under national or international law, states that Canada and Ukraine remain committed to continue working together "to strengthen the capacity of the Ukrainian government and its security forces to defend Ukraine's territorial integrity and its people." It added both countries will seek ways "to build upon these gains."

Canada was the first western country to send to Ukraine government ministers when its crisis with Russia started early in 2014. Canada had been actively donating non-lethal military supplies, including helmets, ballistic eyewear, protective vests, first aid kits, tents, sleeping bags, winter coats, Gore-Tex boots, tactical communications gear, bomb disposal equipment, medical kits, night vision goggles and winterized kits, among others.

"We have a solid foundation of training and capacity building which has taken place for many years," Nicholson told reporters in Kyiv. "The government of Canada has taken concrete steps to assist Ukraine."