CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER
- ‘Please stop the bombing:’ Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeals to MPs to halt Russia’s attack
- Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy challenged Canada to send more weapons, money and support for a no-fly zone during an impassioned address to Parliament.
OTTAWA—Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy challenged Canada to send more weapons, money and support for a no-fly zone during an impassioned address to Parliament on Tuesday, 21 days after Russia invaded his country.
Speaking via video, Zelenskyy appealed to Canadian parliamentarians to imagine that the deadly bombardments of Ukraine’s cities were happening in Toronto and Vancouver, bombing that has killed 97 children so far.
“Can you imagine when you call your friends and nations and you ask to please close the sky, close the air space, please stop the bombing, how many more cruise missiles have to fall on our cities until you make this happen? And in return, they express their deep concerns about the situation when we talk to our partners and they say please hold on, hold on a little longer?” he asked.
“Imagine that someone is laying siege to Vancouver” he said. “This is exactly the situation that our city of Mariupol is suffering right now. They are left without heat or hydro, without a means of communicating, almost without food and water, and are seeking shelter in bomb shelters.”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, delivers a joint address to the Parliament of Canada via videoconference.
“We are not asking for much. We are asking for justice, for real support which will help us to prevail to defend, to save lives, to save life all over the world,” he said.
As the Zelenskyy address was being delivered, Russia said it was sanctioning Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly and Defence Minister Anita Anand among a list of some 331 names, mainly Canadian MPs, who would be barred from entry to Russia from now on. Others not on the list were previously named for their opposition to Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.
Zelenskyy said Canada has been a “reliable partner,” responding immediately to requests, and is “leading in these efforts” to provide humanitarian and military aid, and to co-ordinate and apply international sanctions, yet he said, “basically what I am trying to say is that you will need to do more to stop Russia, to protect Ukraine, and by doing that to protect Europe from Russian threats.”
“We are asking for more of your leadership and please take a greater part in these efforts, Justin, and all of our friends of Ukraine.”
He said while he knows “you all support Ukraine,” the president added, “I would like you to feel what we feel every day. We want to live and we want to be victorious. We want to prevail for the sake of life.”
“Some people” talk about “avoiding escalation,” he said, but when Ukraine begs to join NATO, “we do not hear a clear answer.”
He said since war broke out, “It’s dire straits, but it allows us to see who our friends are over the last 20 days.”
Beamed on two large screens set up in the House of Commons, Zelenskyy spoke, dressed in an olive green jacket and T-shirt sitting at his desk in Kyiv.
“You can see that Kyiv is being bombed,” he said. He addressed the Ukrainian Canadian diaspora of more than 1.3 million people, and made a direct appeal, saying “we need your support, your practical support.”
Guests began to trickle in two hours beforehand. When it was all over, MPs and visiting senators and guests on the floor of the Commons, along with those in the public galleries gave Zelenskyy a standing ovation that lasted a full three minutes, with people calling out “Slava Ukraini,” “glory to Ukraine” and “glory to the heroes.”
Although he did not speak to reporters after Zelenskyy’s speech, outside the Commons before he spoke, Trudeau did not directly answer a question from reporters about a no-fly zone, saying only that this was a day to show Canada’s support for Ukraine.
Trudeau introduced Zelenskyy by outlining Canada’s deep historical ties with Ukraine.
“Volodymyr, in the years I’ve known you, I’ve always thought of you as a champion of democracy,” Trudeau said in the Commons.
“And now, democracies around the world are lucky to have you as their champion,” Trudeau said to a standing ovation in the packed House of Commons that lasted several seconds.
“Your courage, and the courage of your people, inspires all of us. You’re defending the right of Ukrainians to choose their own future.
“And in doing so, you’re defending the values that form the pillars of all free, democratic countries. Freedom. Human rights. Justice. Truth. International order.”
Trudeau announced Canada would target 15 more Russian officials including government and military “elites” and “enablers” of Putin’s invasion, but details were not immediately available.
After Zelenskyy spoke, Interim Conservative Leader Candice Bergen said support for Ukraine “is not a choice, it is a moral duty” to show solidarity with Ukraine because it is defending the values not just of Ukraine but of Europe and beyond. “We must do more together with our allies to secure Ukraine’s airspace” over at a minimum humanitarian corridors, she said.
After Zelensky’s speech, Joly, said Canada had not moved off its opposition to a no-fly zone.
“We have been consistent throughout the (NATO) alliance in making sure that there would be a red line and this red line would be not to trigger an international conflict. That has been our position. Now, we want to make sure that we can support Ukraine to defend its airspace.” She said Canada would continue to do that by providing lethal aid to Ukraine, and by continuing to have strong sanctions.
Asked if Canada would support no-fly zones over humanitarian corridors, as the Conservatives called for, Joly said “first and foremost, Russia needs to accept that there are humanitarian corridors. And when they have humanitarian corridors in place, they can’t bomb civilians at the same time, or help their army.”
She said she was not surprised at Putin’s move to sanction her, Trudeau and Anand. “We expected it,” she said.
The Russian sanctions list says those targeted are barred from entering Russia, and also names senior Canadian public servants like the deputy defence minister Bill Matthews; Sarah Paquet, the head of Canada’s financial intelligence agency FINTRAC; and members of the Canadian Ukrainian Congress, its provincial wings, and other expat organizations of the Ukrainian diaspora in Canada, including fundraisers for the Victims of Communism memorial; and James Temerty, founder of the Temerty Foundation which donated $5 million to establish a catholic university in Lviv, Ukraine.
Joly pointed out that Zelenskyy acknowledged Canada’s leadership in the international effort to support Ukraine even though it is not a major military power.
But Opposition party leaders insisted that Ottawa could do more.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet told reporters it is not enough for Canada to say it will facilitate immigration for Ukrainians fleeing. He said the biometrics information and paperwork Ottawa demands are complicating the refugees’ entry.
“This isn’t a matter of visas, it’s a matter of saving lives,” he said.
Blanchet wants to see more humanitarian aid and airlifts for refugees — something that Joly said is still under discussion.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, delivers a joint address to the Parliament of Canada via videoconference. MPs and senators have convened in the House of Commons chamber for the address, which comes as Russia’s military attack on Ukraine enters its twentieth day.
Informed that his name is also on the Russian sanctions list, Blanchet expressed surprise.
“Am I on the list?” said Blanchet, adding “Thank you Vladimir.”
“I did not plan to go to Russia,” he said.
The Ukrainian leader’s repeated appeals for a no-fly zone have met with rejection by NATO leaders who fear it would bring NATO forces in direct conflict with Russian forces, and in the words of U.S. President Joe Biden, lead to a third World War.
Trudeau has pledged his government will do “everything” it can to support Ukraine.
Previously Trudeau dismissed a no-fly zone “in which NATO forces are in direct conflict with Russian soldiers,” saying it is to be “avoided.”
“That would be a level of escalation that is unfortunate that we need to avoid.”
On his way into the Commons, Trudeau again turned aside questions, saying that the address today was a chance to show support to Ukraine.
The speech to the Canadian Parliament comes as three prime ministers from neighbouring countries, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovenia were travelling to Kyiv to show solidarity and express EU support.
But on Tuesday, the Russian advance was reportedly 15 kilometres from the capital.
A former actor and comedian whose surprise election win saw him thrust into the president’s role at a time of rising Russian aggression against his country, Zelenskyy has emerged as a powerful wartime leader.
His defiance along with his country’s resistance to the Russian invasion have so far held much of the country’s ground and air defences against a more powerfully armed aggressor.
Whether taped from the streets of Kyiv, his office or a bunker as the Russian shelling of Kyiv has progressed, Zelenskyy’s video messages during the 21-day war have motivated and inspired his people and leaders around the world.
Just as he has previously turned addresses to the British and the European Parliaments, and the U.S. Congress into appeals to their lawmakers’ conscience, so too has Zelenskyy demanded help of Canada.
He is scheduled to make another U.S. address to Congress Wednesday.
Trudeau had invited Zelenskyy to make the address just four days ago during a trip to Europe to co-ordinate the Liberal minority government’s response with allies and highlight Canada’s support of Ukraine.
U.S. President Joe Biden has rejected a no-fly zone saying it would start another world war. He has also rejected an offer by Poland to transfer its Soviet-era jets to Ukrainian pilots in exchange for U.S. fighter jets swapping to maintain Poland’s defence capability.
Canada, which is home to the largest Ukrainian population outside Ukraine and Russia, was the first western country to recognize Ukraine’s independence on Dec. 2, 1991.
Since the crisis broke out, Canada has levied and helped co-ordinate economic and financial sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian lawmakers, banks and oligarchs.
The Trudeau government has also banned Russia’s “negligible” energy exports to Canada, stripped Russia of World Trade Organization “most favoured nation” trading status with this country leading to 35 per cent tariffs on its exports, and promises more.
Ottawa pulled its 200 military trainers out of Ukraine, but is sending an additional 460 troops to Operation Reassurance, part of the NATO mission to reinforce the eastern flank — an effort that has added an extra frigate, a maritime patrol aircraft and two heavy lift cargo planes to the region.
The federal government has also sent anti-tank weapons, grenades, rocket launchers, defensive gear, and $145 million in humanitarian aid, offered loans of up to $500 million, and adopted easier immigration mechanisms for Ukraine refugees, but has not lifted a visa requirement.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said it is “frankly unimaginable” to think the war in Ukraine could happen in Canada, and said that Canadians must come to Ukraine’s aid.
“He asked for more help and we must answer that call,” said Singh.
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