PM Carney, in Ukraine, says Canada would not rule out sending peacekeepers

Kyiv — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday he backed Ukraine’s calls for robust security guarantees as part of any peace deal, saying Canada would not rule out sending troops under such a framework.

Three and a half years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, US President Donald Trump is leading peace efforts and Ukraine is working with its European allies to draft potential frameworks for post-war security guarantees for Kyiv, which Trump has also expressed openness towards.

Carney, making his first visit to Ukraine since taking office in March, joined Zelensky for a ceremony in central Kyiv to mark Ukrainian Independence Day, which was also attended by Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg.

“We are all working to ensure that the end of this war would mean the guarantee of peace for Ukraine, so that neither war nor the threat of war are left for our children to inherit,” Zelensky told a crowd of dignitaries in Kyiv’s Sophia Square, against the backdrop of an 11th century cathedral.

Zelensky has said he wants future security guarantees as part of a potential peace deal to be as close as possible to Nato’s Article 5, which considers an attack on one member state as an attack against all.

Carney backed Ukraine’s calls for potential international participation.

“In Canada’s judgment, it is not realistic that the only security guarantee could be the strength of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. That needs to be buttressed and reinforced,” Carney told a joint press conference.

The two leaders also signed an agreement on drone co-production, and Carney said Ukraine would receive more than C$1bn ($723m) in military aid from a previously announced package next month.

Zelensky presented Kellogg with a state honour during Sunday’s ceremony, telling him “we need peace” as he gave him a medal in a leather case.

Later in the day, Kellogg met Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, who said they had discussed the Ukraine-US minerals agreement as well as the security guarantees issue.

During the press conference with Carney, Zelensky was asked about a story in the Wall Street Journal which said the Pentagon had for months been quietly blocking Ukraine’s use of the US-supplied ATACMS missile to hit targets in Russia.

In response, he said that Kyiv has of late been using its own domestically produced long-range weapons to hit targets inside Russia, which are not cleared with Washington.

“Lately we have not been discussing this issue with the US,” he said.

Ukraine has said it conducted overnight strikes on an oil refinery in Russia’s Samara region, as well as a gas fractionation facility at Ust-Luga, a Russian port which is a key energy export node.

Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine exchanged 146 prisoners of war from each side on Sunday after mediation by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Russian defence ministry and the Ukrainian president said.

The Russian ministry said all of the freed Russians were in Belarus receiving psychological and medical assistance. Ukraine also returned to Moscow eight Russian citizens, residents of the Kursk region, the ministry said.

Zelensky, writing on the Telegram messaging app, announced that the exchange had taken place, but gave no figures. The president posted pictures of smiling returnees, saying most of them had been in captivity since 2022, when Russia invaded its smaller neighbour.

He said a journalist taken prisoner a month after the invasion was among them.

Zelensky thanked the UAE for its role in overseeing the swap.

“The exchanges are continuing. Perhaps that is possible because of our soldiers, who are increasing the exchange fund for Ukraine,” the president wrote, referring to the capture of Russian servicemen.

Reuters