Trudeau visits Ukraine to mark 3rd anniversary of Russian invasion
Murray Brewster, Peter Zimonjic | CBC News | Posted: February 24, 2025 7:07 AM | Last Updated: February 24
Trudeau says 'everything is on the table' when it comes to putting boots on the ground to enforce peace deal
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau paid a surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday, along with other Western political leaders, to mark the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
It is an important, symbolic moment and comes less than a week after U.S. President Donald Trump's public attacks on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whom Trump dismissed as a "dictator."
Trudeau opened the summit pledging to give 25 light-armoured vehicles to Ukraine and to provide the country with the first payment of the $5 billion in funds from seized Russian assets.
The money is being channelled through the Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) loans for Ukraine program, which saw G7 countries agree last year to using Russian assets to help Ukraine rebuild. The Prime Minister's Office says the entire initiative will provide Ukraine with almost $70 billion.
Trudeau also said Canada will be delivering two armoured combat support vehicles that Ukrainian forces will begin training on shortly in Germany.
The prime minister also said Canada will provide a grant to help Ukraine with energy security as Russia attacks the country's power grid. Trudeau also announced new assistance for Ukraine totalling $118.5 million in humanitarian aid.
Trudeau announced new sanctions targeting 76 individuals and entities who the government says are providing support to Russia's military, are involved in the forced transfer of Ukrainian children or support Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime.
The prime minister also announced Canada is sanctioning 109 vessels based on their involvement in transferring sanctioned Russian goods, including hydrocarbons, saying that revenue fuels Russia's war machine.
WATCH | FULL SPEECH: Trudeau calls out Russia's 'war of aggression' in Kyiv, pledges more help for Ukraine:
Zelenskyy announced the visit at a news conference on Sunday, explaining that the prime minister would be one of 13 foreign leaders attending a summit on peace and security for Ukraine, and he hoped Trudeau would enlighten him on "what is happening with the relationship with the U.S."
Trudeau and other leaders spoke at the opening of the summit, which proceeded despite an audible air-defence siren ringing out in the background. His remarks did not touch on Ukraine's possible membership in the NATO military alliance, which other leaders have been calling for at the ongoing summit.
Speaking directly to Zelenskyy, Trudeau praised the Ukrainian president's "remarkable personal bravery, resilience and resolve."
"You continue to inspire me and tens of millions of my fellow citizens back home in Canada," he said.
Trudeau says 'everything is on the table'
During a news conference after meeting with European leaders, Trudeau was asked if he was willing to commit to putting boots on the ground to enforce a possible peace agreement.
Trudeau said that Canada will have to increase its military spending and its participation in global security as the world becomes a more uncertain place, and that Canada will continue to be there for Ukraine.
"As to how we will be there, we will work with our neighbours on it, but everything is on the table because we need to make sure that might no longer makes right in this world," Trudeau said.
Trudeau said that in the meantime, securing a fair and lasting peace remains the priority before discussions can take place about what happens next.
"We will continue to look for ways to engage, but the first priority is to make sure that there is a ceasefire and that we set up the conditions for a lasting peace," Trudeau told reporters after the summit.
"When we establish the way we are going to keep a lasting peace … I am certain that Canada will be involved but we're not at that position yet," he added.
Watch | PM says 'everything' on the table after being asked if Canada would help enforce Ukraine peace deal:
The prime minister also said the military training that Canada and other allies provided to Ukraine as far back as 2015 shows Canada has been a steadfast ally of Ukraine.
"Western training of Ukrainian armed forces is one of the reasons why Ukraine has been able to stand up to the Russian invaders so effectively over the past years," Trudeau said.
Zelenskyy said "I love Canada" and that he appreciated the help that Canada has provided to Ukraine since the very beginning of the war.
"Justin is absolutely right about training missions," Zelenskyy said. Part of Ukraine's army was "prepared by" Canada, he said, noting that training was very important in the first year of the war.
WATCH | Zelenskyy says he hopes 'we can finish this war this year':
Washington and Moscow have met to discuss how to end the war — an initial round of discussions that took place without Ukraine at the table and over the heads of European allies who Trump expects to shoulder the burden of a possible peacekeeping military deployment.
Trump made ending the war in Ukraine one of his signature campaign promises in last year's bid to regain the White House — claiming he could end the bloodshed in one day. The notion was dismissed by Ukraine, Western allies and Russia itself.
French President Emmanuel Macron met with Trump at the White House on Monday, with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer scheduled to arrive in Washington to meet with Trump on Thursday.
The U.S. president suggested that Ukraine bears responsibility for the ongoing war, "should have never started it" and could have avoided the bloodshed by making a deal with Moscow.
During his opening remarks earlier in the day, Trudeau pushed back on any suggestions that Ukraine bore responsibility for igniting the conflict.
"This is not a conflict Ukraine wanted, provoked or asked for in any way," Trudeau said. "This is a war started for one reason and one reason only: Russia's desire to erase Ukrainian history and expand their empire."
"Russia's actions are nothing short of a direct attack against the rules-based international order — an order established in response to the most destructive war in our collective history," Trudeau said.
"We cannot return to an era where might makes right. We must do everything in our power to enable Ukraine to secure a just and lasting peace — a peace that cannot be achieved without Ukrainians at the table."
Trump's statements shocked international allies and some Republicans, including former vice-president Mike Pence, who took to social media last Wednesday to denounce his former boss.
"Mr. President, Ukraine did not 'start' this war. Russia launched an unprovoked and brutal invasion claiming hundreds of thousands of lives. The road to peace must be built on the truth," Pence said in a Wednesday post on X.
Much of what Trump said last week parrots Kremlin talking points.
Bill Monahan, a senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington, D.C., said Trump has talked a lot about peace through strength in Ukraine, but it appears to be "rhetorical flourish" without any real substance.
"I think [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is very happy he has been able to achieve one of his strategic goals, which is to create disunion and division among the United States and its allies in the transatlantic relationship," Monahan said during an online news briefing last week, ahead of the anniversary.
"But as we go forward and define what our goals are for the negotiations, I think we'll need to work very closely with our allies and with Ukraine to make peace through strength happen."
At the moment, Russian forces control about 20 per cent of Ukraine, mostly in the east and southeast. Estimates from various Western and Ukrainian intelligence sources suggest that more than 800,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or severely wounded, making the war one of the deadliest conflicts for Moscow in recent times.
Last week, Zelenskyy said 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since the start of the full-scale invasion, and another 390,000 have been wounded in action. Western intelligence agencies have put that estimate higher.
The United Nations estimates Russia's invasion has cost more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians their lives, and many observers wonder how much longer the country can hold on.
"The biggest challenge we face [going forward] is confidence in Ukraine," said retired U.S. Army lieutenant-general Ben Hodges, who spoke last week on a panel at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
He said Ukrainians are wondering what the U.S. is going to do and what European powers will do in the face of Washington's deal-making and potential withdrawal.
WATCH | What do Ukraine, Russia and the U.S. want?:
"Are they going to be traded away for some grand deal? Or are we going to commit to help them defeat Russia, which is entirely within our ability to do if we had the political will? Or are we going to force them to accept some kind of settlement?"
Sam Greene, who is also at the Center for European Policy Analysis, said those are the same questions NATO allies are asking themselves concerning where negotiations over Ukraine are going.
Increasingly in the U.K., and potentially in France, he said, allies "are beginning to see the U.S. as part of the problem."
And that, Greene said, is going to put pressure on Europe to come up with its own solution to the war on its doorstep.