The fallout from the disastrous Trump Zelensky meet continues. On Sunday leaders from a number of western nations gathered in London to give public backing to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. The Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was also among the leaders and claimed that his country is considering all possible optionsad will not rule out the option of sending troops to Ukraine.
The comments came at a summit in London where a number of western leaders had gathered and assured Zelensky that they were completely behind him. Before the summit the UK had also agreed to give a 2 billion plus financial backing to Zelensky, as the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a new “coalition of the willing” to secure Ukraine’s interests.
Trudeau looks to send Troops
Starmer had hosted an emergency meeting in London on Sunday, during which he acknowledged that while some nations have little to contribute, those willing should act with urgency. On this when asked whether Canada would consider deploying troops, Trudeau said that any scenario was possible.
“Canada has looked at the ways it can best help, and as I said a few days ago, everything’s on the table,” Trudeau said, insisting that his country “has been one of the strongest countries in support of Ukraine from the beginning.”
As an example of Canada’s leadership in supporting Kiev, Trudeau highlighted a joint effort with the UK and Poland under which they have “provided military training to over 44,000 Ukrainian troops” since 2015 – an average of roughly 4,400 per year.
He also cited “almost $20 billion” ($13.8 billion USD) in “multifaceted assistance” to Kiev. However, Germany’s Kiel Institute estimates Ottawa’s total contribution at around $8.6 billion, making it the fifth-largest individual state donor after the US, Germany, the UK, and Japan.
Responding to the comments Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova questioned whether Canada even has enough troops to protect its own borders.
“And who will protect Canadian soil in the event of a northward expansion of the United States? Apparently, Ukrainians who fled to Canada from mobilization,” Zakharova said, it sems referencing the Donald Trump comments of making Canada the 51st state of the US.
Justin Trudeau has already announced that he will be stepping down as the Prime Minister of Canada and the country is headed for elections this year. Pressure is high on Trudeau who’s public ratings have plummeted and knows he is on the way out.
Trudeau and Canada have been embroiled in a verbal clash with Donald Trump as well for the past few months as Trump has asserted that Canada should become the 51st state of the US. This has sky rocketed the animosity between the two nations with tensions spilling over amongst the public as well.
However it seems Trudeaus’s potential replacement and opposition party leader Pierre Poilievre is echoing the same stance as that of Justin Trudeau as he too assured Zelensky of his complete backing.
Comments at the Meet
Meanwhile Starmer was busy rallying and gathering European nations for combined interests. Reiterating on Sunday that “not every nation will feel able to contribute, but that can’t mean that we sit back,” emphasizing that the UK is “prepared to back this with boots on the ground and planes in the air, together with others.”
French President Emmanuel Macron stated that European troops would only be deployed once the situation on the ground is deemed safe for them. He proposed a temporary month-long “truce in the air, on the seas, and on energy infrastructure” – an idea that Moscow has previously denounced as a Western ploy to rearm and bolster Kiev.
Moscow has strongly opposed the deployment of Western troops to Ukraine, warning that without a UN mandate, they would be considered legitimate targets. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that such a move – which is primarily being pushed by France and Britain – would “further fuel the conflict and stop any attempts to cool it down.”
On the other hand the US President Donald Trump seems to want to pull his nation out of the Ukraine quagmire. With the proposed peace deal and mineral deal still in limbo it is uncertain how the US will manage the situation now. With France, UK at the forefront, Canada and Trudeau can advocate their bravado in such meets as much as they want but what they can deliver on the ground will have to be seen.
