Prime Minister Mark Carney attended a virtual meeting with other world leaders ahead of a meeting between the leaders of the United States and Russia over the war in Ukraine.
U.S. President Donald Trump is set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Aug. 15 to discuss ending Russia’s war in Ukraine. Trump said on Aug. 13 that there would be “very severe consequences” if Putin does not agree to end his war, but did not go into detail on what those consequences could be.
Trump also said he hoped a second meeting could be held shortly after the Alaska summit that would include both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
According to a readout from the Prime Minister’s Office, the Aug. 13 meeting of the “Coalition of the Willing” discussed ongoing efforts to achieve peace for Ukraine. The meeting touched on “shared principles” such as allowing Ukrainians to decide on their future; not allowing international borders to be changed by force; using diplomatic, military, and economic pressure to encourage Russia to end the war; and the need for security guarantees for Ukraine.
The meeting was co-chaired by the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, and was also attended by U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Zelenskyy.
During the meeting, Carney affirmed Canada’s support for Ukraine, including by highlighting the recently announced $2 billion in new military support and the disbursement of a $2.3 billion loan through the G7 Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration Loans mechanism.
Carney also recently announced that Ottawa would be increasing military spending by an additional $9 billion in order to meet the NATO goal of 2 percent of GDP expenditure on defence. All NATO members recently agreed to spend 5 percent of GDP on defence by 2035.
Carney also said on X that the coalition welcomes the “leadership of the United States in working toward securing a just and lasting peace in Ukraine in the context of upcoming negotiations.”
In an Aug. 12 statement, European Union leaders encouraged Trump to defend the continent’s vital security interests during his meeting with Putin, saying that the people of Ukraine “must have the freedom to decide their future.”
The leaders also said in the statement that Russia’s war against Ukraine has “wider implications for European and international security” and a diplomatic solution must be reached. Hungary was the only EU country not to sign the statement.
