Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 6, 2022, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A2 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COMA2 SUNDAY, MARCH 6, 2022NEWS The Free Press receives support from the Local Journalism Initiative funded by the Government of Canada WINNIPEG FREE PRESS SUNDAY 1355 Mountain Avenue Winnipeg, Manitoba, R2X 3B6 PHOTO REPRINTS 204-697-7064 SWITCHBOARD 204-697-7000 ADVERTISING 204-697-7122 FP.Advertising@freepress.mb.ca EDITORIAL NEWSROOM 204-697-7301 HOW TO REACH US Winnipeg Free Press est 1872 / Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 VOL. 151 NO. 114 INSIDE Local news A3,6 Canada A3,6 Sunday Special A4 World A6 Entertainment A8-9 Miss Lonelyhearts A9 Sports B1 Comics B7 Diversions B8-9 Horoscope B9 Television B9 2022 Winnipeg Free Press, a division of FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership. Published seven days a week at 1355 Mountain Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba R2X 3B6, PH: 204-697-7000 A member of the National Newsmedia Council The people in these photos are of interest to police and may be able to provide investigators with information about the offences. These images are released for identification purposes only. The people pictured may or may not be responsible for the crimes indicated. If you are able to identify anyone pictured, call Winnipeg Crime Stoppers at 204-786-TIPS (204-786-8477), text TIP170 and your mes- sage to CRIMES (274637) or send a secure tip online at winnipegcrimestoppers.org. CLICK ● WINNIPEG CRIME STOPPERS Incident: 1190 WHEN: Feb. 2, 2022 WHERE: 700 block of Sargent Avenue A man at a retail store managed to get the keys for an employee’s vehicle, which the sus- pect stole. When the vehicle was recovered, several valuable possessions had been taken. Incident: 1191 WHEN: Feb. 9, 2022 WHERE: First block of Arden Avenue Two men entered an apartment building and proceeded to break into several mail boxes as well as the utility room, which housed the building’s security system. An unknown amount of mail was stolen and the surveillance system was damaged, but not before these images were captured. “Where do we stand?” said Uni- versity of Manitoba professor James Fergusson, one of Canada’s leading experts on Norad. “No one seems to know. Or if they know, they’re not saying where we stand.” During a trip to Ottawa in Decem- ber, VanHerck told reporters he was awaiting political direction on up- grading Canada’s key contribution to Norad, a string of radars built in the Canadian Arctic in the 1980s called the North Warning System. Military officials have been caution- ing for years that the North Warning System, which was built to detect Russian bombers approaching North America from over the Arctic, is obso- lete because of the development of mis- siles with increasingly longer ranges. “It’s kind of like having a big house and leaving your back two bedrooms unlocked,” said retired general Tom Lawson, who was Norad deputy com- mander before serving as Canada’s chief of the defence staff from 2012- 2015. “We can’t even see the Canadian Arctic archipelago. You could be doing anything you want flying over there.” Asked last week whether VanHerck has been given the needed political di- rection, Defence Minister Anita Anand said she has had several discussions with U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin about Norad modernization and the North Warning System. But she did not provide any oth- er specifics, and instead noted that the federal government awarded a $592-million contract in January to an Inuit-owned company, Nasittuq Corp., to operate and maintain the system’s long- and short-range radars. One of the reasons progress has been slow is the rapid pace of technological change, which makes it difficult to predict what threats the system needs to protect against. That includes the role that cyber defence and space will play in the future. “There’s been a lot of background work being done, which of course is not sexy,” said Andrea Charron, another leading Norad expert at the University of Manitoba. “It’s looking at over-the-horizon radar systems for North Warning System and in some cases anticipating technology that hasn’t actually come into its own yet.” But there has also been a sense that while Ottawa says Norad moderniza- tion is a priority, it’s not a top priority. This has been evidenced by a virtual lack of dedicated funding for the effort. Its costs were omitted from the Liberal government’s defence policy in 2017. Canada’s controversial decision not to join the U.S. ballistic missile defence system also continues to cloud talk about the degree to which Canada is willing to help intercept and destroy threats to North America, not just detect them as they approach the continent. Charron said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is an example of the type of event that Norad commanders and others have long worried about when calling for an upgrade to the system. “Because if Russia felt boxed in, where are they going to hit?” she said. “They’re going to hit somewhere that is not very populated, and that speaks to the Arctic. “This is ‘escalate to de-escalate.’” In other words, the fear is that Russia could launch a limited attack on North America’s Arctic and threaten a much bigger onslaught as a way to sue for peace. Alternatively, it could keep the U.S. and Canada from sending rein- forcements to NATO allies in Europe. “Ukraine has made Norad even more important, because we are the back door to NATO,” Charron said. The hope for some is that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will serve as the catalyst for Ottawa to make Norad modernization a true priority with more dedicated funding in this year’s federal budget and moving ahead on some potentially controversial deci- sions. “Here’s a perfect moment to an- nounce that we’re coming on board with all forms of ballistic missile defence … and we are going to discuss the positioning of new radar systems and new missile interceptors on Cana- dian soil,” said Lawson. “And, by the way, we are now an- nouncing that we’re buying F-35s, the first of which will be delivered four years from now. Now, all of a sudden, you’re looking pretty beefy.” — The Canadian Press DEFENCES ● FROM A1 Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko said thousands of residents had gath- ered for safe passage out of the city of 430,000 when shelling began and the evacuation was stopped. Later in the day, he said the attack had escalated further. “The city is in a very, very diffi- cult state of siege,” Boychenko told Ukrainian TV. “Relentless shelling of residential blocks is ongoing, airplanes have been dropping bombs on residen- tial areas. The Russian occupants are using heavy artillery, including Grad multiple rocket launchers.” Russia has made significant ad- vances in the south, seeking to cut off Ukraine’s access to the sea. Capturing Mariupol could allow Russia to estab- lish a land corridor to Crimea, which it annexed in 2014. Meanwhile the head of the Cherni- hiv region said Russia has dropped powerful bombs on residential areas of the city of the same name, which has a population of 290,000. Vyacheslav Chaus posted a photo online of what he said was an undetonated FAB-500, a 1,100-pound (500-kilogram) bomb. “Usually this weapon is used against military-industrial facilities and forti- fied structures,” Chaus said. In a speech to Ukrainians, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pointed to “the 500-kilogram bombs that were dropped on the houses of Ukrainians. Look at Borodyanka, at the destroyed schools, at the blown-up kindergartens. At the damaged Kharkiv Assumption Cathe- dral. Look what Russia has done.” The West has broadly backed Ukraine, offering aid and weapons and slapping Russia with vast sanc- tions. But the fight itself has been left to Ukrainians, who have expressed a mixture of courageous resolve and despondency. “Ukraine is bleeding,” Foreign Min- ister Dmytro Kuleba said in a video released Saturday, “but Ukraine has not fallen.” Russian troops advanced on a third nuclear power plant, having already taken control of one of the four oper- ating in the country and the closed plant in Chernobyl, Zelenskyy told U.S. lawmakers. Zelenskyy pleaded with the lawmak- ers for additional help, specifically fighter planes to help secure the skies over Ukraine, even as he insisted Rus- sia was being defeated. Russian troops took control of the southern port city of Kherson this week. Although they have encircled Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv and Sumy, Ukrainian forces have managed to keep control of key cities in central and south- eastern Ukraine, Zelenskyy said. U.S. President Joe Biden called Zelenskyy early today, Kyiv time, to discuss Russia sanctions and speeding U.S. assistance to Ukraine. The White House said the conversation also cov- ered talks between Russia and Ukraine but did not give details. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Poland to meet with the prime minister and foreign minister, a day after attending a NATO meeting in Brussels in which the alliance pledged to step up support for eastern flank members. Blinken also spoke by phone with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who said Beijing opposes any moves that “add fuel to the flames” in Ukraine, according to the Chinese For- eign Ministry. Blinken said the world is watching to see which nations stand up for freedom and sovereignty, the State Department said. In Moscow, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with Putin at the Kremlin. Israel maintains good rela- tions with both Russia and Ukraine, and Bennett has offered to act as an intermediary in the conflict, but no details of the meeting emerged imme- diately. Bennett’s office said he spoke twice with Zelenskyy afterward. The death toll of the conflict was difficult to measure. The UN human rights office said at least 351 civilians have been confirmed killed since the Feb. 24 invasion, but the true number is probably much higher. Ukraine’s military is vastly out- matched by Russia’s, but its profession- al and volunteer forces have fought back with fierce tenacity. Even in cities that have fallen, there were signs of resistance. Onlookers in Chernihiv cheered as they watched a Russian military plane fall from the sky and crash, according to video released by the Ukrainian government. In Kherson, hundreds of protesters waved blue and yellow Ukrainian flag sand shouted, “Go home.” A vast Russian armored column threatening Ukraine’s capital re- mained stalled outside Kyiv. Also Saturday, the Canadian govern- ment has updated its advice for anyone considering travelling to Russia. In a new post on the government’s website, it says all travel to Russia should be avoided, and any Canadians who are already there “should leave while commercial means are still available.” The post says the advice is “due to the impacts of the armed conflict with Ukraine, including limited flight options and restrictions on financial transactions.” — The Associated Press COLLAPSE ● FROM A1 VADIM GHIRDA / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS People cross on an improvised path under a bridge that was destroyed by a Russian airstrike, while fleeing the town of Irpin, Ukraine, Saturday. DANIEL CRUMP / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS TELEPHONE EXCHANGE TORN DOWN Demolition has begun on the historic St. James Telephone Exchange Building at 340 Rutland St. The building was built in 1916 and was first used as a telephone exchange and then by Manitoba Hydro. Demolition of the building was approved by the city in October 2021 to make way for private residences. A_02_Mar-06-22_FP_01.indd 2 2022-03-05 11:09 PM ;