Record Russian strikes | Ottawa reaffirms its support for Ukraine

Several ministers of the federal government came to the defense of Ukraine on Friday on social networks, following a major Russian offensive which left at least 30 dead and 144 injured in the last hours.

“In the wake of this latest brutal assault by Russia, the bravery and resilience of the Ukrainian people endures. Volodymyr, your fight is also ours. Canada will continue to support Ukraine, whatever the cost and for as long as it takes,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wrote Friday evening in a post on the social network X.

Mr. Trudeau then reacted to a publication by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who shared a video in which we could see numerous buildings engulfed in flames following this military operation. Russia reportedly fired around a hundred missiles at several Ukrainian towns.

President Zelensky said the missiles hit a daycare center, schools, a shopping center, residential buildings, houses, a commercial warehouse and a parking lot in several cities, including the country’s capital, Kyiv.

“We will definitely respond to these terrorist attacks,” he promised. And we will continue to fight for the security of our entire country, including all of our cities and all of our citizens. Russian terror must and will lose. »

In addition to Mr. Trudeau, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, and her colleague responsible for National Defense, Bill Blair, also denounced this assault by Russia and offered their support to Ukraine.

“Canada strongly condemns these attacks on Ukraine and Putin’s illegal invasion. We will remain in solidarity with Ukraine,” said Mr.^me Joly.

For his part, Mr. Blair added that these drone and missile attacks “demonstrate the brutality of Putin’s invasion.”

Since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, Canada has committed to providing more than $2.4 billion in military aid to Ukraine. He also imposed sanctions and put in place other measures to demonstrate his opposition to the war waged by Russia and its President Vladimir Putin.

“The most massive air attack”

Several observers have recently suggested that Russia has limited its missile strikes in recent months in order to build up its reserves for larger operations over the winter.

The result materialized Thursday and Friday with what is considered the “most massive air attack” since the Russian invasion began by Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk.

As of November 2022, Russia launched 96 missiles in an offensive. Its largest air operation carried out this year before that of the last hours occurred on March 9, when it launched 81 missiles.

According to Mr. Zelensky, the cities of Lviv, Odessa, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia and several others were also affected by Russian airstrikes on Thursday and Friday.

The UN Security Council met hastily on Friday to discuss the attack, which its deputy secretary-general Khaled Khiari called “appalling”.

“Tragically, the year 2023 ends as it began — with devastating violence against the Ukrainian people,” he denounced, emphasizing that international humanitarian law prohibits attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, also condemned the Russian offensive “in the strongest terms”. He said attacks on civilians were unacceptable and must stop immediately.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, for his part, argued that the scale of the attack should raise public awareness of Ukraine’s needs.

“Today, millions of Ukrainians woke up to the sound of explosions,” he wrote on X.

“I wish these sounds of explosions in Ukraine could be heard all over the world, in all the major capitals which are currently debating additional support for Ukraine. »

With information from the Associated Press