Trudeau says Ukraine can strike deep into Russia with NATO arms

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Ukraine should be allowed to strike deep inside Russia, regardless of Moscow threatening that this would draw Canada and its allies into direct war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that the NATO military alliance would draw itself into war if it allows Ukraine to use donated weapons to make long-range strikes inside Russia.

His comments come five weeks after Ukrainian forces stormed the border and put parts of Russian territory under foreign occupation for the first time since the Second World War.

Trudeau says Canada “fully supports Ukraine using long-range weaponry” to prevent Russian strikes on hospitals and daycares across the country.

He says Ukraine must win in fighting back against Russia’s invasion, or it will encourage other large countries to try absorbing their neighbours.

In May, Washington began allowing Ukraine to use American weaponry to strike inside Russia, but only for targets near the border being used to attack Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv.

“Canada fully supports Ukraine using long-range weaponry to prevent and interdict Russia’s continued ability to degrade Ukrainian civilians (and) infrastructure, and mostly to kill innocent civilians in their unjust war,” Trudeau told reporters at a news conference in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Que., on Friday.

“(Putin) is trying to deeply destabilize the international rules-based order that protects us all, not just in every democracy around the world, but in all countries around the world,” Trudeau said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

— With files from the Associated Press.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press