Canada supports Ukraine on its own terms, ambassador says

Canada’s ambassador to Ukraine is adamant that Canada will continue to support Ukraine regardless of the attitudes of the incoming Trump administration. 

Victory in Ukraine must “be defined by Ukraine, so it’s winning on Ukraine’s terms and we need to all stand behind that,” said Natalka Cmoc, who has served as Canada’s ambassador since August 2023.

Cmoc attended the Halifax International Security Forum this weekend. The forum is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that has been bringing together delegates each year since 2009 to facilitate conversations on global security.

In an interview with The Signal, the ambassador focused on Canada’s goal of preserving “the international rules-based order.” Protecting “the sovereignty and territorial integrity” of Ukraine is important for Canada because “if we don’t preserve that principle, what does that say for any other conflict out there?” she asked. 

Cmoc wanted to set the record straight for conversations Canadians are going to have around the conflict in Ukraine.

“Ukraine is still a sovereign democratic country that is making decisions for herself and able to hold its own, so Russia’s lost.”

The ambassador says she is confident in Canada-U.S. relations with Donald Trump’s upcoming return to the White House. On Monday Trump announced he would set a 25-per-cent tariff on Canadian goods on his first day in office.

“Our number one priority is to make sure that we maintain good relationships with the U.S. Which I don’t see why we wouldn’t,” she said. “I’m not worried about that at all.”

Some speakers at the forum referred to Trump as a “transactional president” and raised questions about how countries can urge Trump to provide continued support for Ukraine. 

Cmoc said losing Ukraine’s natural resources to Russia would be damaging to Western interests.

If Ukraine’s resources were “consolidated by one or two countries that don’t happen to be aligned with the West,” she said, “that is absolutely something we need to all consider.”

However, Cmoc said she is more focused on protecting Ukraine’s sovereignty than any possible potential trade relationships.

“This is not a negotiation between the U.S. and Russia. Ukraine will decide who it wants at the table,” she said.

Cmoc is confident in Canadian-Ukrainian relations and says that Canada will continue supporting its ally, citing Canada’s involvement and support for Ukraine internationally.

She pointed to Canada’s involvement in a Montreal conference to advance Ukraine’s peace demands and identify diplomatic approaches to humanitarian issues. Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly co-hosted the conference in early November with Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Andrii Sybiha and Norwegian Foreign Affairs Minister Espen Barth Eide.

Cmoc said Canada leads, especially on Working Group Four, an international effort to return children, prisoners of war and detained civilians to Ukraine from Russia.

“That’s something that we’ve taken a very active role in,” said the ambassador. 

Cmoc said Canada is backing “all ten” points of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s peace plan.

“We’ll support Ukraine when it feels it’s time to go to the table for conversations,” said Cmoc about any future potential Ukraine-Russia peace talks.

“But it’s really about letting Ukraine lead this.” 

Ukraine’s defence against Russia’s illegal invasion was the focus of this weekend’s Halifax International Security Forum.

“Every international issue is linked to Ukraine’s victory over Putin’s Russia,” said forum president Peter Van Praagh.

“We might be forgiven for believing that Ukraine can no longer win the war against Russian aggression. This widespread forecast is not true,” said Van Praagh in a news conference.

“It wasn’t true when all the experts said the same thing on Feb. 24, 2022. This conventional narrative is all a jumble of doom and gloom.”