Zelenskyy and Trudeau discuss strengthening Ukrainian air defense
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy (Photo: Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held his first international conversation in 2024. He discussed with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau the reinforcement of protection for Ukrainian airspace, according to the head of state's post on Telegram.
"First and foremost, we discussed security matters. I informed Justin about Russian strikes on our cities and villages: constant rocket terror, Shahed strikes. Just on the evening before New Year's and on New Year's night, our air defense forces managed to destroy over 80 attack drones, but unfortunately, there were hits in the Sumy, Odesa, Lviv, Poltava, Kyiv, Donetsk, and Kherson regions, leading to damage to civilian objects," he said.
Zelenskyy added that he thanked Trudeau for the readiness to assist in strengthening the protection of Ukrainian skies, especially for the supply of additional NASAMS - systems and missiles for them.
"We discussed work on security guarantees and agreed that our teams will soon activate bilateral dialogue for a respective agreement," the president added.
Moreover, the leaders discussed the preparation for the fourth meeting of advisors working on implementing the Peace Formula. The meeting will take place in mid-January in Davos.
"I am grateful both personally to Justin and to Canada for the corresponding support on the global level of our efforts. Grateful also for the assurance that next year, Canada's assistance to Ukraine will remain as necessary for our strength on the battlefield as in the financial sphere," emphasized Zelenskyy.
Canada's assistance
Canada supported Ukrainians in the aggressor war unleashed by Russia. Ottawa provided military, financial, humanitarian, and political support, supported sanctions against Russia. In May 2022, after the liberation of northern Ukraine, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Kyiv.
In September 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Canada for the first time since the beginning of the war.
Recently, it became known that Canada will allocate 1.3 billion Canadian dollars (over 947 million US dollars) in military aid to Ukraine. These funds will be disbursed until 2026.
