Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa. The latter promised 650 million Canadian dollars in aid to Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelensky continues his North American tour. After the United States, the Ukrainian president visited Canada on Friday September 22. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to help his country at war “as long as it takes”. “When we call on the world to support us, it is not about ordinary conflict”declared the Ukrainian president before parliamentarians. “It’s about saving millions of lives. It’s really our survival”, he insisted. At the same time, kyiv claimed Friday a “successful strike” on the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, in annexed Crimea. Franceinfo looks back at the highlights of the day.
Canada announces 650 million Canadian dollars in aid to Ukraine
Volodymyr Zelensky met in Ottawa with Justin Trudeau, who is at the head of a country that hosts a large Ukrainian diaspora. They held a bilateral meeting then spoke in front of elected representatives of Parliament.
Before the Ukrainian president took the podium, Justin Trudeau announced a new aid package for kyiv worth 650 million Canadian dollars (452 million euros) over three years. It includes some 50 armored vehicles and the training of Ukrainian pilots in F-16 fighter jets.
“We will stand with you, alongside all the heroes of this courageous fight, for as long as it takes.”
Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canadaduring a speech to Canadian parliamentarians
“History will judge us on how we defend democratic values. And Ukraine is at the forefront of this great question of the 21st century”added the Prime Canadian.
Crimea hit by “unprecedented” cyberattack after Ukrainian strike
kyiv claims to have carried out a “successful strike” on the siege of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, in annexed Crimea, which left at least one person missing. This Ukrainian region annexed by Moscow in 2014 and the city of Sevastopol, where the targeted naval headquarters is located, are at the heart of the Russian military system for its invasion of Ukraine. The area is essential to Russia both for supplying troops occupying southern Ukraine and for carrying out missile strikes from the sea.
“The enemy carried out a missile attack on the fleet headquarters,” wrote the governor of Sevastopol on Telegram. The Russian Defense Ministry, which initially announced the death of a soldier, then clarified that he was missing.
Authorities installed by Russia on the peninsula also announced a few hours after the strike that Crimea was hit by a cyberattack “unprecedented” against internet service providers, which caused cuts. But it was not specified whether this computer attack was directly linked to the strikes.
Russia restarts its ‘energy terror’ as winter approaches
The warning was issued by Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal at an economic forum in kyiv. “We see it through the destruction of infrastructure” linked to the production and storage of fuels and “first strikes” against electrical posts “the last two weeks”he listed, according to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
>> BEFORE/AFTER. War in Ukraine: use satellite images to see how power cuts are plunging the country into darkness
The head of government, however, estimated that Ukraine was better prepared than the previous winter, when Moscow’s strikes on energy infrastructure regularly plunged millions of people into darkness and cold. This better preparation is partly linked, according to him, to supplies of Western air defense systems. “The winter will certainly be hard, certainly not easier than the previous one” but “we know what the enemy is planning and what challenges lie ahead of us”added the Ukrainian Prime Minister.