Trudeau says Ukraine must be included in negotiations after exclusion from U.S.-Russia talks
'Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,' the prime minister said
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says it's essential that Ukraine be included in peace negotiations after U.S. and Russian officials met to start discussing a possible end to the war in eastern Europe.
"It's a fundamental principle for Canada, and for the vast majority of our allies, that nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine," Trudeau said when asked about the U.S.-Russia talks during a news conference on Wednesday.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov were among the officials that met in the Saudi Arabia capital of Riyadh on Tuesday. Ukrainian officials were not involved.
The meeting came just days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced he'd spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin, a move that upended existing U.S. policy, shocked European leaders and raised questions about what may come next — including from Ukrainians.
"Ukrainians have been fighting and dying — not just to protect their sovereignty, their territorial integrity — they're also fighting to protect the rules-based order that keeps us all safe around the world," Trudeau said Wednesday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared to signal his displeasure about being left out of the talks by saying he would postpone a trip to Saudi Arabia that was otherwise supposed to occur on Wednesday.
Bloomberg News reported that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wanted Zelenskyy involved in the talks in Riyadh, but that the U.S. and Russia preferred to meet without Ukraine.
Zelenskyy has already said that Ukraine will not accept any peace deals "made behind our backs without our involvement."
Other European leaders have also expressed concerns about being excluded from talks between Russian and U.S. officials. Trudeau joined a virtual meeting with the heads of European countries on Wednesday to discuss Ukraine.
The UN human rights office (OHCHR) says that more than 40,000 Ukrainian civilians have been injured or killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
Despite Russia's aggression, Trump appeared to blame Ukraine for the start of the war during a news conference on Tuesday.
"You've been there for three years," Trump said, referring to concerns that Ukraine had been excluded from talks between Russia and the U.S. "You should've never started it. You could have made a deal."
The U.S. president's comments come after Pete Hegseth, Trump's defence secretary, said last week that a return to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders is unrealistic.
Zelenskyy said Wednesday that Trump is living in a Russian-made "disinformation space" as a result of his administration's discussions with Kremlin officials.
Trudeau was also asked about Trump's comments on Wednesday. The prime minister didn't mention the president by name, but did place the blame for the war squarely on Moscow.
"We had rules around borders, around not invading your neighbours, that Russia chose deliberately to violate," Trudeau said.
"Canada and our allies are unequivocal on standing up against Vladimir Putin's illegal, immoral, unjust violations of the international order."
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With files from Reuters and The Associated Press