By Canadian Press

Trudeau says G20 leaders’ statement on Ukraine is not strong enough

Nov 19, 2024 | 8:08 AM

RIO DE JANEIRO, Ont. — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the final leaders’ statement from the G20 summit in Brazil is not strong enough on the war in Ukraine.

He is also expressing some concern about the impact U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House will have on global support for Ukraine.

Russia is a member of the G20 but President Vladimir Putin has not attended a leaders’ summit since before Russia launched a full-scale invasion in Ukraine in February 2022.

That year the G20 leaders’ final statement condemned Russia’s actions and demanded it withdraw from Ukraine.

A year later the leaders’ summit ended with watered-down language about the war, and the final statement from Brazil today was even shorter and did not mention Russia at all.

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Trudeau says Canada and other G7 nations and “advanced economies” wanted a much stronger statement against the “illegal invasion of Ukraine” but the G20 has broader perspectives.

“No it’s not strong enough for me,” he said.

Trump and his allies have criticized America’s financial support for Ukraine and there are concerns the Republicans, who will soon have full control of the White House and Congress, will drastically scale back American backing of Ukraine.

Some of Trump’s allies heavily criticized outgoing President Joe Biden after he authorized this week Ukraine to use long-range U.S. missiles to attack inside Russia.

Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. and Utah Sen. Mike Lee were among those who accused Biden of trying to start “world war three.”

Trudeau and Biden discussed Ukraine in a half-hour-long bilateral meeting in Brazil on Monday and Trudeau said Tuesday that Canada stands behind Biden’s decision.

“I have for months now talked about how important it is to degrade the capacity of the Russian military to strike into Ukraine with impunity because Ukraine hasn’t been able to strike on factories and military production sites in Russia,” Trudeau said in a press conference from Rio de Janeiro today.

“We have called for that for a while. So I think it’s a good thing that the United States has done that and other partners are doing that.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 19, 2024.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press