Finally, a Coalition of the Willing

To Keep Ukraine Fighting, But Not Yet For Victory

Yesterday in London Sir Keir Starmer, Britain’s prime minister since last summer, hosted a leaders’ meeting on Ukraine. All G7 leaders were there except Japan and Trump, along with nine other European heads, plus the NATO secretary general and Türkiye’s foreign minister.

In his speech on Ukraine today to the British House of Commons, Starmer highlighted the presence of the “prime minister of Canada” – for the next fortnight, still Justin Trudeau – describing us as “a vital ally of this country, the Commonwealth and Ukraine… Responsible for training over 40,000 Ukrainian troops.”

In fact, Canada started training the Ukrainian army in 2015 – before the UK, US or other allies. Paradoxically, most of those 40,000 were trained before 2022, when Trudeau pulled our trainers out of Ukraine. For three long years, he and other NATO leaders have failed to send them back. (Let’s come back to that later.)

Leaders’ Summit on Ukraine: Family Photo, 2 March 2025