Ukraine PM Zelensky Meets Carney in Canada

Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived in Canada for a slew of meetings with Mark Carney and other Canadian politicians. This is Zelensky's first visit to Canada in more than a year as Ukraine continues to handle an onslaught of deadly attacks from Russian forces. Zelensky will be in Canada from September 9 to September 12, and will travel across the country to attend various meetings. Meeting locations include Calgary, Toronto and North Bay, where Zelensky will be joined by his wife, Olena Zelenska. Zelensky arrived in Calgary on September 9, ahead of a scheduled meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.

The Ukrainian PM and his wife were met on the tarmac at Calgary International Airport (YYC by several Canadian officials, including Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister. Zelensky and his wife were ushered into black SUV's and taken to a hotel nearby. Carney and Zelensky will meet in Calgary on September 10, and Zelensky will then travel to Banff, where he is scheduled to give a speech in the mountain town. According to reports from Mark Carney's team, the two will be meeting regarding shared priorities between Canada and Ukraine. Those priorities include deepening defence, economic and energy co-operation, according to Mark Carney's statement.

Speaking about Russia's war on Ukraine

According to Carney's office, the meeting will also touch on the human cost of Russia's war against Ukraine. The meeting will also build on the strong interpersonal ties that connect the two countries. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, at least 2 million people have been killed – mostly military personnel – and another million displaced from both sides, making it the most deadly conflict of the 21st century. Both the Kremlin and the US government have been strongly encouraging Ukraine to cede land to Russia, but Volodymyr Zelensky has made his position clear: Ukraine is, and will always be, unwilling to concede its sovereign territory.

Zelenskyy's plane delayed from Moldova

On September 8, a flight that was supposed to carry Volodymyr Zelensky from Moldova to Norway was delayed after authorities closed Moldova's airspace because of a drone incursion. According to the Moldovan government, a Russian drone crashed into a sunflower field on the outskirts of a village in Riscani district, which caused four fires to break out but no injuries. Moldovan government spokesperson Dumitru Ciorici said Moldova had closed its airspace on September 8 in hopes of protecting aircraft flying over the country. Three flights, including Zelensky's, were delayed.

Additional Russian strikes

Zelenskyy's arrival in Canada comes as Kyiv experiences a new wave of violent, damaging drone attacks from Russia. The Ukrainian capital has been coping with devastating strikes for nearly four years, and the Kremlin ramped up its attacks in the month of August. During August, Kyiv was struck an average of ten times a day by both drones and missiles hailing from Russia.  Western intelligence reports from early September warn that Russia is ramping up for an escalation of violence in Kyiv and Ukraine. Russian strikes in the Ukrainian capital have killed at least 12 people in the last week.

Zelenskyy asking the world for strength

Before his trip to Canada, Volodymyr Zelensky scolded the international community on social media for failing to take a tough stance on Vladimir Putin's violent war on Ukraine, claiming that as Russia increases its bombardment of civilian infrastructure, the international community must stand together against it.  

Message from Canada

During the first week of September, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney made comments directed at the international global community and Vladimir Putin himself. Carney claimed that if the Russian leader decided to attend the G20 conference in Miami this year, his message would be simple: get out. With the G20 being held in Miami, Florida, this year, Donald Trump extended a personal invitation to Vladimir Putin to attend. Putin has not attended the G20 summit since he began his invasion of Ukraine in 2022. While Russia has not been formally ousted from the G20, European leaders have been extremely vocal in their disapproval of Russia's involvement in the event.