Reward Ukraine’s resilience: Senators Kutcher and Dasko
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February 24, 2025 marked the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale illegal and genocidal attack on Kyiv, Ukraine. However, this war actually started in 2014 with Russia’s invasion of Crimea and then the Donbas and other regions. Against all odds, the Ukrainian people successfully resisted. Against all odds, the Ukrainian forces stood up to the strongest military in the world and fought it to a standstill. Against all odds, the Russian Black Sea fleet was defeated by a country without a functional navy.
This successful resistance has, however, come at a price. Thousands of people — including children and those being treated in hospitals — have been murdered by Russian missiles that specifically targeted civilians. People living in Russian-occupied areas have been tortured, raped and executed. Thousands of children have been stolen from Ukraine and assimilated into Russia. Iconic cultural structures have been destroyed. The environment has suffered what might be irreparable damage.
As western nations gradually realized the scope and nature of the Russian threat and provided military and humanitarian support, Ukraine continued to fight. Its people did not give up. Daily missile attacks in many regions notwithstanding, people living away from the front lines trudged on with their lives. The deaths of loved ones were mourned. Children went to school in bomb shelters. Shops sold goods. The loss of electrical power in winter was countered with propane heating. People fell in love. Babies were born.
This is what resilience looks like.
On February 24 — which marked the beginning of the fourth year of this war — we, along with the Ukrainian Embassy in Canada and the Ottawa branch of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, hosted a ceremony in recognition of the resilience and strength of the Ukrainian people. Hundreds of people attended, expressing their awe and appreciation of this resilience.
While this support is important, Ukraine’s resilience must be rewarded.
Ukraine is now facing a new tyrant: an American president who wants to plunder its mineral wealth for his gain. A president who has befriended the aggressor Russia and who seems determined to destroy the international rule of law and replace it with a might-makes-right alternative. A president who seeks to make a nation that was once a protector of democracies a predator of democracies.
Ukraine has now become the beachhead for the preservation of the international rule of law and the touchstone for the preservation of democratic state sovereignty. If presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin can together destroy Ukraine, no democratic country — including Canada — is safe.
This week marks a turning point not only for Ukraine, but also for Canada.
Canada and its allies must stand strongly together in support of Ukraine. That means the country must immediately independently freeze the Bank of Russia’s approximately $22 billion in assets and use them to support Ukraine. We must increase our military aid, especially through direct funding, using the Danish model. We must enhance our security and defence collaborations with likeminded countries in the European Union and with the United Kingdom, as well as with Scandinavian, Baltic and other northern states and NATO members other than the U.S.
We must strongly oppose the so-called U.S.-Russia “peace talks” that are not about peace, but about what piece of Ukraine each of those countries would like to take. And given billionaire Elon Musk’s use of his communication infrastructure to interfere in various European elections and the war on Ukraine, we must nationally divest ourselves of reliance on his Starlink communication systems.
The world order is changing before our eyes. Ukraine is the canary in the coal mine. It behooves us to listen to its song and act before it is gone.
Senator Stan Kutcher represents Nova Scotia and Senator Donna Dasko represents Ontario.
This article was published in The Hill Times on February 26, 2025.
February 24, 2025 marked the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale illegal and genocidal attack on Kyiv, Ukraine. However, this war actually started in 2014 with Russia’s invasion of Crimea and then the Donbas and other regions. Against all odds, the Ukrainian people successfully resisted. Against all odds, the Ukrainian forces stood up to the strongest military in the world and fought it to a standstill. Against all odds, the Russian Black Sea fleet was defeated by a country without a functional navy.
This successful resistance has, however, come at a price. Thousands of people — including children and those being treated in hospitals — have been murdered by Russian missiles that specifically targeted civilians. People living in Russian-occupied areas have been tortured, raped and executed. Thousands of children have been stolen from Ukraine and assimilated into Russia. Iconic cultural structures have been destroyed. The environment has suffered what might be irreparable damage.
As western nations gradually realized the scope and nature of the Russian threat and provided military and humanitarian support, Ukraine continued to fight. Its people did not give up. Daily missile attacks in many regions notwithstanding, people living away from the front lines trudged on with their lives. The deaths of loved ones were mourned. Children went to school in bomb shelters. Shops sold goods. The loss of electrical power in winter was countered with propane heating. People fell in love. Babies were born.
This is what resilience looks like.
On February 24 — which marked the beginning of the fourth year of this war — we, along with the Ukrainian Embassy in Canada and the Ottawa branch of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, hosted a ceremony in recognition of the resilience and strength of the Ukrainian people. Hundreds of people attended, expressing their awe and appreciation of this resilience.
While this support is important, Ukraine’s resilience must be rewarded.
Ukraine is now facing a new tyrant: an American president who wants to plunder its mineral wealth for his gain. A president who has befriended the aggressor Russia and who seems determined to destroy the international rule of law and replace it with a might-makes-right alternative. A president who seeks to make a nation that was once a protector of democracies a predator of democracies.
Ukraine has now become the beachhead for the preservation of the international rule of law and the touchstone for the preservation of democratic state sovereignty. If presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin can together destroy Ukraine, no democratic country — including Canada — is safe.
This week marks a turning point not only for Ukraine, but also for Canada.
Canada and its allies must stand strongly together in support of Ukraine. That means the country must immediately independently freeze the Bank of Russia’s approximately $22 billion in assets and use them to support Ukraine. We must increase our military aid, especially through direct funding, using the Danish model. We must enhance our security and defence collaborations with likeminded countries in the European Union and with the United Kingdom, as well as with Scandinavian, Baltic and other northern states and NATO members other than the U.S.
We must strongly oppose the so-called U.S.-Russia “peace talks” that are not about peace, but about what piece of Ukraine each of those countries would like to take. And given billionaire Elon Musk’s use of his communication infrastructure to interfere in various European elections and the war on Ukraine, we must nationally divest ourselves of reliance on his Starlink communication systems.
The world order is changing before our eyes. Ukraine is the canary in the coal mine. It behooves us to listen to its song and act before it is gone.
Senator Stan Kutcher represents Nova Scotia and Senator Donna Dasko represents Ontario.
This article was published in The Hill Times on February 26, 2025.