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Canada sending CF-18 jets to NATO Ukraine mission

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada will contribute six CF-18 jet fighters to a NATO air-policing mission in response to the crisis in the Ukraine.

Harper said Thursday that the jets and ground support staff will be based in Poland.

The military is also sending up to 20 staff officers to bolster the Canadian presence at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

The fighter jets will join warplanes from the United States, Britain, Denmark, Poland, Portugal and Germany.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the alliance's secretary general, said earlier this week that NATO will deploy additional forces to former East Bloc countries in response to the growing violence in the Ukraine.

Canada is also slated to take part in July in a long-planned, U.S.-led military exercise in Ukraine, known as Rapid Trident 2014.