Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a new aid package for Ukraine worth 650 million Canadian dollars (452 million euros) on Friday during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Ottawa.
This assistance, over three years, includes the delivery to Kiev of about 50 armored vehicles and the training of Ukrainian pilots in F-16 fighter jets, Trudeau announced to the Canadian parliament.
After the UN and Washington, Volodymyr Zelensky is today in Canada, where he met Justin Trudeau and asked this country, which has a large Ukrainian diaspora, to stay with Ukraine “until victory”.
Trudeau welcomed the Ukrainian president with a hug at the Canadian parliament in Ottawa in the morning, before the two leaders began a bilateral meeting.
His meeting in Ottawa comes the day after the meeting with the US president in Washington, in which Joe Biden assured him of the support of the United States despite political differences in Congress.
“I hope you stay by our side until we win”
“Thank you for your help,” Zelensky told the Canadian people. “You have been with us since the first days of this invasion. (…) I hope you will remain by our side until our victory,” he added.
The Ukrainian president spoke in the Canadian parliament, which did not happen in Congress in Washington, where he was received behind closed doors by Democratic and Republican representatives from the House of Representatives and the Senate.
He will then fly with Justin Trudeau to Toronto, where both leaders will meet with business leaders and members of the Ukrainian community.
Canada, the last G7 country visited by the Ukrainian leader, has the world’s largest Ukrainian diaspora after Russia, with about 1.4 million people.
This is Volodymyr Zelensky’s first official visit to Canadian territory since the beginning of the Russian invasion, in February 2022. In March, he addressed the country’s parliamentarians via video conference.
Trudeau, who visited Ukraine in June, said in a news release Thursday evening that Ottawa will support Ukraine “for as long as necessary” and that the country will “continue to provide unwavering support to the Ukrainian people as they fight for their sovereignty and democracy.”
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he added, Canada has committed more than 8.9 billion Canadian dollars (6.2 billion euros) in support of Ukraine in the form of a wide range of measures, “including 4.95 billion dollars [canadianos] in direct financial support and more than 1.8 billion in military aid.”
Ottawa has trained more than 36,000 Ukrainian soldiers and also plans to train fighter pilots. The military assistance includes eight Leopard 2 heavy battle tanks, an armored recovery vehicle, 39 armored personnel carriers, anti-tank weapons, drones and satellite communications equipment.
“We all have a role in this,” Canadian Chief of Staff Wayne Eyre said today during a meeting with Ukraine’s new Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.
In Washington on Thursday, Zelensky thanked Joe Biden for US assistance and called for this support to continue even after a year and a half of conflict.
The US president announced new military aid of 325 million dollars (305 million euros) and stated that American Abrams tanks would arrive in Ukraine “next week”.
The Ukrainian president also wanted to express his gratitude to the US Congress, which is currently debating whether to vote on a new aid package worth another 24 billion dollars (22.5 billion euros), despite resistance from members of the Republican party.
Source: DN
