Brussels/CMEDIA: Speaking to European parliamentarians Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a plea to European leaders to unite as democracies in the face of Russia’s unprovoked invasion to provide both humanitarian and lethal aid to Ukraine.
Russian President Valdimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine, which Trudeau called a violation of international law poses a security threat, said Trudeau not only to Europe but to western democracies and the world which are faced with future uncertainties and global inflation.
“Putin’s attack on Ukraine is an attack on the values that form the pillars of all democracies. We have a responsibility to make the case to people about why these values matter so much — not just to Ukrainians but to us all,” Trudeau said in his remarks.
“We must recommit ourselves to the work of strengthening our democracies, and demonstrate the principled leadership people are looking for.”
In continuation of his speech to European leaders on Wednesday on his first day of the second whirlwind trip to Brussels and visit to Europe, Trudeau said they need to further tighten economic sanctions on Putin and his enablers in Russia and Belarus.
His earlier tour to Europe was just two weeks ago, where he held meetings in London, Berlin, Warsaw, and Poland, and visited Canadian troops leading a NATO multinational battlegroup in Latvia.
Trudeau spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about further international assistance ahead of the upcoming NATO and G7 meetings before leaving Ottawa on Tuesday.
“Both leaders called on Russia to stop targeting civilians, to withdraw its military forces from Ukraine, and to engage in diplomacy with Ukraine,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.
In a tweet, Zelensky said he specifically spoke about the “humanitarian catastrophe” unfolding in the besieged city of Mariupol, and “the importance of effective security guarantees” for Ukraine.
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