Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today as leaders of several countries seek to coordinate their response to the U.S.-Russia summit on the war in Ukraine, from which Kyiv was not invited to participate.
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are preparing to hold a face-to-face meeting on Friday in the US state of Alaska near the far east of Russia.
In a statement released after the call between Carney and Zelensky, the Canadian Prime Minister’s office said the two leaders “welcomed President Trump and the United States’ leadership in working to secure peace in Ukraine.”
The statement said that “the two leaders emphasized that decisions regarding Ukraine’s future must be made by Ukrainians, that international borders cannot be changed by force, and that diplomatic engagement should be reinforced by continuing to pressure Russia to end its aggression.” They also stressed “the need to provide strong and reliable security to enable Ukraine to defend its territorial integrity and sovereignty.”
In a social media post, Zelensky stated that he had agreed with Carney that “no decisions can be made without clear security guarantees.”
The Ukrainian president added that he agreed with the Canadian prime minister that Russia is not seriously considering ending the full-scale war it launched against Ukraine in February 2022.
“We see it the same way, and it is clear that the Russians only want to buy time, not end the war,” Zelensky continued.
“The situation on the battlefield and the malicious strikes Russia is carrying out against civilian infrastructure and ordinary people clearly prove this,” he added.
The Ukrainian leader also stated that he is working to coordinate a response with allies.
In a related context, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz invited Zelensky, Trump, and several European leaders to meetings on Wednesday.
The list of invitees includes U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, and the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Poland, and Finland.
Neither Prime Minister Karney’s office nor Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand’s office responded to questions about whether Canada had been invited to participate in the aforementioned meetings.
