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Trudeau set to depart for Europe today to meet with allies on Ukraine response

Mar 6, 2022 | 2:03 AM

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to depart for Europe today to meet with allies about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Trudeau is scheduled to fly out of Canada this morning, ahead of meetings set for Monday with the prime ministers of the U.K. and the Netherlands about the intensifying situation. 

In the following days, Trudeau is expected to meet with other leaders in Riga, Latvia, Berlin and Warsaw, Poland. 

He’s also due to meet with the secretary-general of NATO and with Canadian Armed Forces members during his trip. 

The prime minister’s office says he will work with allies on responding to Russia’s military aggression and the humanitarian challenges stemming from the conflict, which has prompted more than a million people to flee Ukraine since late last month.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pleaded for a no-fly zone over his country and lashed out at NATO for refusing to impose one, warning that “all the people who die from this day forward will also die because of you.”

But NATO has refused, as Russian President Vladimir Putin has made clear he’d consider such a move a hostile act.

Instead, the alliance of western nations has opted to send weapons and defensive equipment to Ukraine while attacking Russia’s economy.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly has been in Europe over the past few days in meetings with NATO and European Commission officials about ongoing efforts to sanction Russia. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 6, 2022. 

The Canadian Press