Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney made a surprise visit to Kyiv on Sunday to join President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in celebrating Ukrainian Independence Day.
Carney’s war-zone debut underlines Canada’s role in the “coalition of the willing,” the European-led nations offering military support to Ukraine. It also plays to a 1.3 million-strong domestic constituency in Canada, which is home to the world’s second-largest Ukrainian diaspora.
“Canada’s support for Ukraine is unwavering,” Carney said. “We are with you every step of the way, in your fight to defend your sovereignty, and to realize your dreams for your country.”
The visit comes amid the now-stalled peace efforts by President Donald Trump, which Carney and other Western leaders have applauded. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday that Moscow is “not ready at all” for Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet directly with Zelenskyy, something Trump tried to engineer when he hosted the Russian leader in Alaska.
During a ceremony in Sophia Square in Kyiv on Sunday, Carney said Putin is becoming more isolated as Russia’s economy weakens. “I applaud the leadership of the transformative U.S. President Donald Trump in creating the possibilities for peace,” Carney said.
Carney’s arrival in Kyiv adds to a historic chain that connects Canada to the war-ravaged nation, from first welcoming Ukrainian settlers in 1891, to becoming the first Western nation to recognize Ukraine as a country in December 1991, to Ottawa’s now decade-old mission to lead the training of Ukraine’s military to repel Russian invaders.
Canada has granted sanctuary to 300,000 Ukrainians since Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine ignited the worst conflict in Europe since the Second World War.
Carney’s European trip continues in Poland and Latvia this week, where he will meet Polish, Latvian and NATO officials, as well as Canadian Forces personnel in both countries.
On Tuesday, he’ll visit to Berlin to build out defense and energy ties with Europe’s largest economy. Canadian Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson will continue that work in Berlin on Wednesday while Carney and Defense Minister David McGuinty visit NATO’s Russia-facing Adazi Military Base on Latvia’s eastern border.
The base is where Canada leads a multi-national NATO brigade in its largest foreign military deployment. Canada has trained 45,000 Ukrainian troops through NATO’s Operation Unifier, starting soon after Russia’s illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. Training was relocated to Poland after Russia’s full-scale February 2022 invasion.
Carney’s political meetings will include Polish President Donald Tusk, Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. In Poland, discussions will focus on the aerospace, defense and energy and nuclear sectors.
Carney and the Cabinet ministers are eager to bolster economic cooperation and investment in defense and security as all NATO countries aim to reach the alliance’s new 5 percent of GDP spending target.
In Germany, the official said, Carney and Merz plan to announce they are working “to secure critical mineral supply chains” and co-fund projects across a range of industries.
For most of August, Carney has worked mainly behind closed doors, holding calls with Zelenskyy and European allies, while Trump grabbed headlines hosting the likes of Putin in Alaska, and European leaders at the White House.
On Aug. 17, Carney emerged from a coalition-of-the-willing call with Zelenskyy to announce C$2 billion in new military support for Ukraine and the disbursement of a C$2.3 billion loan through a G7 loan acceleration mechanism.
The prime minister’s office has also highlighted efforts to repatriate Ukrainian children seized by Russia since 2022. “Canada also welcomes the new appeal to President Putin by the First Lady of the United States, Melania Trump, to consider the plight of children in ending this war,” the prime minister’s office said.
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