President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has arrived in Canada in an attempt to shore up support from Ukraine’s allies amid destructive Russian drone and missile attacks on Kyiv and other major cities.
The Ukrainian leader arrived in the western city of Calgary late on September 9 after a visit to Norway for the funeral of King Harald V and talks on air defense support.
Zelenskyy’s plane was delayed on its way to Oslo after an alert in Moldova that a Russian drone had entered the nearby airspace.
“Canada remains one of our closest partners,” wrote on X after his arival in Canada. “We value the support of the Canadian people and the decisions that help Ukraine to withstand the war and to protect our people.”
Moscow has stepped up its air war in recent months, using ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones that have taken advantage of Ukraine’s dwindling air defenses.
The attacks also have targeted Ukraine’s power grid ahead of the upcoming winter in what appears to be part of a campaign to demoralize civilians after more than four years of war.
Zelenskyy and his wife, Olena Zelenska, are set to attend events in Calgary, Toronto, and North Bay, as well as a meeting with Canadian cabinet members in Banff, Alberta.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement on September 9 that that Zelenskyy’s visit “will focus on shared priorities between Canada and Ukraine, including deepening defense, economic, and energy cooperation.”
“It will also address the human cost of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and build on the strong people-to-people ties that connect our countries,” the statement said, adding that Canada “remains steadfast in our commitment to support Ukraine’s defense, recovery, and reconstruction.”
On his way to Canada, Zelenskyy made a stopover in Iceland, where he met with the country’s foreign minister, Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir. At the center of the conversation was protecting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and strengthening its air defenses.
As Zelenskyy seeks to shore up support, fighting between Ukraine and Russia remains intense.
Overnight Ukrainian drones struck the Russian Caspian Sea port of Makhachkala in Daghestan. One person died and two were injured as a result of another drone attack in the Voronezh region. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that 448 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight.
Meanwhile, Russian air strikes hit the southern Ukrainian port city of Mykolayiv as well as civilian and industrial infrastructure in the region, killing four and injuring 19, acting regional Governor Heorhiy Reshetilov said on Telegram.
After months of stalled talks on ending the conflict, hopes have been raised by a flurry of diplomatic moves.
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with US President Donald Trump on September 8, a conversation that the Kremlin described as “constructive and quite frank.”
Washington has not yet commented on the call, but Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov suggested that Putin told Trump that an immediate cease-fire could be secured if the United States would end all support to Kyiv.
According to the Financial Times, CIA director John Ratcliffe is preparing to take a bigger role in US negotiations with Russia and Ukraine. Sources indicated to the paper that the roles of US special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner may be scaled back to make room for Ratcliffe.
The two negotiators have led the talks with Moscow and Kyiv for the last year and a half, but the diplomatic efforts have so far failed to produce tangible results.
Officials close to Ratcliffe have told their European peers that in addition to maintaining contact with intelligence agencies in both Russia and Ukraine, the CIA director will now play a more active role in shuttle diplomacy.
Discover more from PressNewsAgency
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.