FOG BLOG CANADA LOG: TRUDEAU MAKES SURPRISE VISIT AND COMMITS $ 500 MILLION TO UKRAINE!

Trudeau commits $500M more in military aid during surprise visit to Kyiv 'We need more friends like Canada,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau paid a surprise visit to Kyiv on Saturday and announced $500 million more in Canadian military aid as Ukraine has stepped up its long-anticipated counteroffensive to drive Russia's army out of occupied eastern and southern regions of the battered country.

Earlier in the day, Trudeau, who was accompanied on the trip by Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Trudeau said that since last year, Canada has committed over $8 billion in funding assistance to Ukraine, including over $1 billion in military aid, since the start of the Russian invasion early in 2022.

The prime minister offered no details on how the new funding would be spent. However, he indicated Canada would also extend its military training mission — known as Operation Unifier — until 2026 and offered to help train Ukrainian pilots, along with other countries, on the F-16 fighter aircraft.

Back in Canada, the federal government said it intends to seize a Russian-registered cargo aircraft that landed in Toronto on Feb. 27, 2022, days after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. That same day, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra announced the closing of Canada's airspace to all Russian aircraft in response to the invasion, and the plane has been grounded ever since.

If seized, it would become the first physical asset confiscated under Canada's updated sanctions system.