FORMER UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT PETRO POROSHENKO CALLED ON CANADIANS TO CONTINUE TO STAND WITH UKRAINE AGAINST RUSSIAN
Moira Wyton
“You were shoulder to shoulder with us in 2014,” said Poroshenko of Canadians when the ongoing illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia began.
“We need peace, not capitulation.”
Poroshenko, president from 2014 to 2019, addressed up to 300 elected officials, academics and community members in a lecture hosted by the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Alberta. He also met with Premier Jason Kenney Monday morning, whom Poroshenko praised for his support of Ukraine in 2015 as federal minister of defence.
Edmonton is home to a sizeable Ukrainian population, and a Ukrainian consulate opened here in September 2018.
Poroshenko noted the “very special” partnership between the two countries through history, language and migration, and stressed the urgency of challenging autocratic leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin as a united front.
“It is in front of our eyes that the future world is being shaped,” Poroshenko said to the crowd.
He cited the continued tensions in Crimea and in the Donbass region of Ukraine as examples of this aggression that threatens the sovereignty of Ukraine and the fate of the free world as a whole.
Repairing Ukraine’s bilateral relationship with bipartisan support of the United States, Poroshenko said, will be key to ensuring Ukraine will be supported in standing up to Russia.
“The American presidential struggle is for Americans,” he said, referring to ongoing investigations into the Trump administration’s ties with Russia. “But Ukraine’s struggle with Russia, that is for the entire free world.”
As president, Poroshenko signed a free trade agreement with Canada, saw dozens of reforms against corruption at all levels of Ukrainian society, and negotiated an association agreement between Ukraine and the European Union (EU), allowing Ukrainians to visit the EU visa-free. In April, Poroshenko lost his re-election bid to comedian Volodymyr Zelensky.
He said Monday that visa liberalization between Canada and Ukraine is a worthwhile goal and that Canada should be steady in its support of Ukraine to join the EU and NATO. He even floated the idea of allowing individuals to hold dual Canadian and Ukrainian citizenship.
During his visit to Edmonton, Poroshenko will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, who is also in Edmonton to meet with Kenney and Mayor Don Iveson.
“The future of the free world is being decided in Ukraine,” said Poroshenko.
