Zelensky In Canada For Surprise Visit

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived Thursday in Canada in a surprise visit after his trip to the United States, according to the office of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Zelensky will deliver an address to Parliament while in Ottawa, Trudeau’s office added.

Zelensky had just wrapped up a whirlwind day in Washington, where he visited the White House, the Pentagon and talked to congressional leaders, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), whose party includes lawmakers skeptical about sending additional aid to Kyiv. In his nightly address, Zelensky expressed thanks to President Biden for approving the latest tranche of U.S. military aid, and thanked “both parties, both houses,” saying that he had “very frank, detailed conversations” with U.S. lawmakers.

Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.

Key developments

Zelensky will spend Friday in Canada, Trudeau’s office said. After addressing Parliament, Trudeau and Zelensky “will then travel to Toronto, where they will meet with Canadian business leaders to strengthen private sector investment in Ukraine’s future.” Canada has provided more than 8.9 billion Canadian dollars ($6.6 billion U.S.) since January 2022, in direct financial aid and military equipment, according to the office.

The Biden administration announced a $325 million military aid package to Ukraine on Thursday. This tranche will include air defense systems, munitions and .50-caliber machine guns that can be used against Russian drones that have attacked Ukrainian cities and towns in recent months.

Unlike his last U.S. visit, Zelensky was not granted the opportunity to address a joint session of Congress. But he had a large forum of senators to make his case for why U.S. lawmakers should approve the Biden administration’s request for an additional $24 billion aid package. “If we don’t get the aid, we will lose the war,” Zelensky told members of the Senate in a closed-door meeting, according to Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.).

In a private meeting with Zelensky, McCarthy asked how open-ended the war would be and if Kyiv is using U.S.-provided weapons responsibly, The Washington Post reported, citing people familiar with the meeting. McCarthy applauded Zelensky’s recent decisions to replace his defense minister and fire other senior defense officials as part of a broader move aimed at rooting out corruption. A McCarthy ally said the speaker expressed support for providing ATACMS missiles and F-16s to Ukraine.

The United States and Ukraine will create an industrial base to jointly produce weapons such as air defense systems, Zelensky said. Describing the plan as historic, he said it would create new jobs for Americans and Ukrainians, and help deter aggression.

Battleground updates

At least one person has been killed in shelling in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, according to a local official. Governor Oleksandr Prokudin wrote Friday on Telegram that a 25-year-old man died of his injuries, while another person was wounded.

A ship has left the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Chornomorsk carrying Ukrainian wheat toward Egypt, Ukraine’s infrastructure minister said Friday, in the second shipment to leave via a temporary corridor for civilian shipping since Russia withdrew from the Black Sea grain deal in July. The Palau-flagged Aroyat has 17,600 metric tons of wheat on board, Oleksandr Kubrakov tweeted, days after the much smaller Resilient Africa departed with 3,000 metric tons. Three other vessels are heading to Ukrainian Black Sea ports to transport 127,000 metric tons of “agroproducts and iron ore” to China, Egypt and Spain, he said in a separate message.

The United States says it has made no decision on whether to supply Ukraine with ATACMS tactical missiles. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said that while the missiles weren’t included in the most recent aid package, Biden had not ruled out providing them in the future. The system has a range of 190 miles and would give the Ukrainian military the ability to fire deeper inside Russian territory.

Russia and Belarus will start a training exercise Friday, Russian state media reported. The biennial Union Shield 2023 exercise will continue until next Tuesday, RIA Novosti reported.

Global impact

Poland threatened to stop sending more arms to Ukraine. Warsaw will fulfill only existing contracts, Polish government spokesman Piotr Müller said, citing Ukraine’s “totally unacceptable statements and public gestures.” Polish President Andrzej Duda appeared to backtrack on the threat, saying it would still be possible for Warsaw to transfer weapons from its old army stocks “just as we have done before.” The remarks come as Poland and Ukraine have been engaged in a trade feud over Ukrainian grain exports that have spilled into the markets of Central and Eastern Europe, as Russian warships maintain a blockade of much of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.

British police charged five Bulgarians with espionage, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service reported. The individuals, who are between 29 and 45, are accused of conducting surveillance on targets, forging passports and identification cards, and passing information to Russian state security services from August 2020 to February of this year._Washington_Post