Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrived in kyiv by surprise today as fighting intensifies between Ukrainian and Russian forces in the south of the country.
Trudeau, who is scheduled to meet with Ukrainian President Volodomir Zelensky, laid a wreath in front of a wall displaying the faces of fallen soldiers in Kiev, accompanied by a military band, the AFP news agency reported.
Canada, a country with a large Ukrainian émigré community, is one of kyiv’s main allies, providing military aid and training for more than 36,000 Ukrainian soldiers and adopting sanctions against Russia.
Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Oleksandr Polishchuk presented the Canadian prime minister with a box of shrapnel from a shell that fell on Odessa, Ukraine’s large Black Sea port city.
“It’s a little reminder of the way Ukraine suffered from Russian missile barrages,” Polishchuk said in English.
A group of Ukrainian servicemen who received training in Canada spoke with Trudeau.
“It is a great privilege to meet the prime minister,” Colonel Petro Ostapchuk said.
Trudeau’s visit comes at a time when Russian authorities are reporting several large-scale Ukrainian attacks on Moscow troop positions in the south and east of the country.
These combats could form part of the great counteroffensive that Ukraine has been preparing for months.
Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted yesterday that this counter-offensive to recover occupied territories “began”, but indicated that “up to now” all the advances of kyiv’s forces have failed.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian authorities and the army, bolstered by shipments of Western material, are keeping a low profile and have not commented on the Kremlin’s claims.
Source: Ambito
