Open this photo in gallery: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lays a wreath at the memorial wall outside of St. Michael's Golden-Domed Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 10, 2023.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has arrived in Kyiv on a one-day trip to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
It’s Mr. Trudeau’s second visit to the Ukrainian capital since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022. The trip comes as Ukrainian forces are beginning a long-anticipated counteroffensive aimed at liberating the roughly 15 per cent of the country that is occupied by Russia.
Talks between the two leaders are expected to focus on additional Canadian military support to Ukraine, as well as the role Ottawa can play in helping to rebuild this war-battered country. The latter challenge grew even greater this week with the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam, which flooded dozens of towns and villages and destroyed thousands of hectares of farmland. Ukraine accuses Russia of intentionally destroying the dam.
Canada has provided over $1-billion in military assistance to Ukraine since the war began. Included in that are eight Leopard-2 main battle tanks that are now in Ukraine and available for use in the counter-offensive.
Ukraine is now seeking F-16 fighter jets, which Canada doesn’t possess, as well as more air defence capabilities to help it contend with regular Russian missile and drone strikes on its cities.
Mr. Trudeau’s arrival in Kyiv, which was a closely guarded secret, came hours after air raid sirens sounded over the city in what was apparently a false alarm, at least in the capital. However, missiles and drones were launched at the eastern region of Kharkiv and the southern port of Odesa, where three people were killed and 10 were injured when fragments of a drone struck an apartment building. An airfield in the central Poltava region also came under attack.
Mr. Trudeau’s itinerary began with a visit to a memorial wall, outside the city’s golden-domed St. Michael’s monastery, that is lined with photographs of some of the thousands of Ukrainians who have died fighting the Russian aggression since 2014, when Moscow first annexed the Crimean Peninsula and instigated a proxy war in the southeastern Donbas region.
Moments before Mr. Trudeau arrived, an honour guard of soldiers carried another casket into the monastery complex. The coffin was followed by sobbing relatives, dressed in black.
Mr. Trudeau’s visit to Ukraine comes one day after former governor-general David Johnston abruptly resigned as the government’s special rapporteur on Chinese interference in Canadian elections.

This data comes from MediaIntel.Asia's Media Intelligence and Media Monitoring Platform.