Prime Minister Justin Trudeau talks to soldiers trained by the UNIFIER program during his visit to Kyiv, Ukraine on June 10, 2023.ANTON SKYBA/The Globe and Mail
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced an additional $500-million in military assistance to Ukraine during a one-day visit to Kyiv, where he met with President Volodymyr Zelensky and addressed the Ukrainian parliament.
Standing alongside Mr. Zelensky on Saturday inside the heavily fortified presidential compound in the centre of the Ukrainian capital, Mr. Trudeau said Canada would donate 288 AIM-7 missiles, which will be repurposed in the United States for use with Ukraine’s air defence systems. He also said it would contribute to a multinational program to train Ukrainian fighter pilots on the F-16 fighter jets the country’s military is expected to soon receive.
“This is a consequential moment for Ukraine, but it is also a consequential moment for the world,” Mr. Trudeau said, in an apparent reference to a major Ukrainian counteroffensive – aimed at liberating Russian-held territories in the south and southeast of the country – that is now under way. “It’s important for me to be here in person to show Canada’s solidarity with Ukraine as they defend their country.”
Later, in his speech to the Verkhovna Rada – which was repeatedly interrupted by standing ovations, as MPs held up a pair of large Canadian flags – Mr. Trudeau said Ukraine was “the tip of the spear that is determining the future of the 21st century,” and that Russian President Vladimir Putin had made “serious miscalculations” when he launched the invasion of Ukraine in February, 2022. Mr. Trudeau said the war could only end with “peace on Ukraine terms” – including a complete Russian withdrawal from Ukraine.
Asked later whether he would speak to Mr. Putin if the Russian leader called, Mr. Trudeau gave a long pause before acknowledging “that’s not a question I’ve thought about.” Mr. Trudeau eventually replied that Mr. Putin “is not someone that I have a particular level of trust or interest in at this point.”
At the joint press conference, Mr. Zelensky confirmed for the first time that the long-anticipated counteroffensive – which will involve more than 100 Western-donated tanks, including eight Leopard-2 tanks donated by Canada – has indeed begun. “Counteroffensive and defensive actions are taking place in Ukraine. I will not speak about which stage they are at,” he said.
Talks between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are expected to focus on additional Canadian military support to Ukraine, as well as the role Ottawa can play in helping to rebuild this war-battered country.ANTON SKYBA/The Globe and Mail
Responding to a Ukrainian reporter who asked him about Mr. Putin’s statement on Friday, via an interview posted to the Telegram messaging app, that the Ukrainian counteroffensive had started, Mr. Zelensky suggested that Ukrainians should not trust Mr. Putin’s words on anything. But he said he had spoken to Ukraine’s front-line generals and “all of them are in a positive mood – communicate that to Putin.”
Mr. Trudeau also announced $10-million in new funding to help Ukraine deal with the effects of the Nova Kakhovka dam collapse on Tuesday. The disaster drove thousands of people from their homes and flooded an adjacent power plant as the Dnipro River rose by almost six metres while devastating the region’s rich ecosystem and agriculture industry. Mr. Trudeau said another $37.5-million of previously announced funding for Ukraine would be redirected to aid the flood-affected regions.
However, Mr. Trudeau did not fully endorse Mr. Zelensky’s accusation that Russia blew up the Nova Kakhovka dam with explosives in an effort to widen the Dnipro River, which forms the de facto front line in the southern Kherson region. While Mr. Zelensky decried it as “a Russian terrorist attack on our nature, on our economy, on the Ukrainian people,” Mr. Trudeau stuck to his government’s position that the catastrophe was “a direct consequence of Russia’s war” – without saying whether he believed that it had been deliberately destroyed.
Russia claims that the dam was destroyed by a Ukrainian missile strike. Many Ukrainians have expressed frustration that Western governments and international institutions appear to be giving the Ukrainian and Russian claims equal weight. Wartime mismanagement could also have played a role: before the disaster, satellite imagery suggested that the water in Kakhovka Reservoir had reached a 30-year-high.
It’s Mr. Trudeau’s second visit to the Ukrainian capital since the start of the Russian invasion.
While Mr. Trudeau repeatedly spoke of Ukraine’s resistance as a struggle for democracy, he said that he spoke to Mr. Zelensky about the importance of press freedom in the country, specifically mentioning the case of long-time Globe and Mail photographer Anton Skyba, whose accreditation to cover the war expired on May 1 and has not been renewed.
“We talked about the importance of press freedom,” Mr. Trudeau said. “I think it’s really important to recognize that democracy is backsliding, everywhere around the world, in different ways, is being challenged in different ways, amongst some of our closest friends. And we all have to remain strong and vigilant.”
Mr. Trudeau’s arrival in Kyiv, which was a closely guarded secret, came hours after air raid sirens sounded over the city in what was apparently a false alarm, at least in the capital.
However, missile and drones were launched at the eastern region of Kharkiv and the southern port of Odesa, where three people were killed and 10 were injured when fragments of a drone struck an apartment building. An airfield in the central Poltava region also came under attack.
Mr. Trudeau said Canada will also use previously announced funding to supply Ukraine with 10,000 rounds of 105-millimetre shells that can be fired by tanks or artillery. He announced a new round of sanctions against 24 individuals and 17 entities – including Ukraine’s former Russian-backed president Viktor Yanukovych – and said Canada had begun the forfeiture process so that a Russian-owned Antonov-124 cargo plane that has been grounded at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport since the start of the full-scale invasion can be transferred to Ukraine.
Ukraine’s biggest desire are F-16 fighter jets to help it defend its skies. While Canada does not have any F-16s, Ukraine’s Deputy Defence Minister Oleksandr Polischuk told The Globe that he hoped Canada would consider purchasing the warplanes and donating them to Ukraine, as Canada did earlier this year when it purchased an advanced NASAMS air defence system – valued at $406-million – from the United States that it intends to give to Kyiv.
Mr. Trudeau’s itinerary began with a visit to a memorial wall, outside the city’s golden-domed St. Michael’s monastery, that is lined with photographs of some of the thousands of Ukrainians who have died fighting Russian aggression since 2014, when Moscow first annexed the Crimean Peninsula and instigated a proxy war in the southeastern Donbas region.
Moments before Mr. Trudeau arrived, an honour guard of soldiers carried another casket into the monastery complex. The coffin was followed by sobbing relatives, dressed in black.
After a brief wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial wall, Mr. Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland met with Ukrainian soldiers who were trained by Canadian troops under Operation Unifier, which Canada launched shortly after Mr. Putin first sent troops in Crimea nine years ago. Mr. Trudeau announced that the training mission, which is now carried out in Britain, would be extended until 2026.
Mr. Zelensky praised Canada’s support since the start of the Russian aggression and thanked Mr. Trudeau for Canada’s support for Ukraine’s eventual accession to NATO, even as he acknowledged that Ukraine cannot expect to join the 30-country military alliance while it was at war.
Mr. Trudeau’s visit to Ukraine came one day after former governor-general David Johnston abruptly quit as the government’s special rapporteur on Chinese interference in Canadian elections. However, planning for the visit preceded Mr. Johnston’s surprise resignation on Friday.
Asked on Saturday whether he would now consider a public inquiry, as opposition parties have been demanding, Mr. Trudeau said “all options are on the table.”