Canada urged to stick with Ukraine amid U.S., Russia ‘shakedown’

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This article was published 19/02/2025 (214 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canadians must continue to stand in solidarity with Ukraine as U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin stage a “shakedown” of the country that’s disguised as peace talks, a U of M professor says.

As the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approaches, Orest Cap, a professor emeritus and acting director of the Centre for Ukrainian Canadian Studies at the University of Manitoba, said the embattled country needs moral, financial and military support.

“It’s been an extremely critical situation in terms of what is transpiring between Russia and Ukraine, and Ukraine has been left out completely of the process of negotiations,” Cap said Wednesday.

He will be the main speaker at a solidarity rally in Winnipeg on Sunday to mark three years since Russia attacked Ukrainian territory on Feb. 24, 2022. The event takes place at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights at 2 p.m.

Relations between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have been tense since the U.S. president suggested Kyiv was to blame for the conflict.

On Wednesday, Zelensky said Trump was living in a Russian-made “disinformation space” and Trump called Zelensky “a dictator without elections.” One day earlier, Trump falsely suggested Kyiv was to blame for the war.

Cap suggested Trump’s administration is purposely cosying up to Russia and ruining efforts to end the war.

“It’s like a seismic earthquake where Ukraine is all of a sudden responsible for everything that is happening in that area, and Russia, all of a sudden, is becoming the friend,” he said.

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Ukraine has also been left out of negotiations between the U.S. and Russia to end the conflict.

Joanne Lewandoski, president of the Manitoba chapter of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, said it’s as if the U.S. and Russia are having a birthday party but failed to invite the guest of honour.

Cap said he doesn’t foresee Ukrainians who have sought refuge in Canada and other countries to consider returning home.

“I think it’s important that we look at the values and the importance of democracy in our country and how to make sure that we’re not passively involved, but actively involved in maintaining it,” he said.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca

Nicole Buffie
Multimedia producer

Nicole Buffie is a reporter for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom as a multimedia producer in 2023. Read more about Nicole.

Every piece of reporting Nicole produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.