Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Defence Minister Bill Blaire support Ukraine’s recent long-range attack on Russia using US missiles – a move Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned would amount to a declaration of war from NATO countries.
Ukraine launched American long-range missiles into Russia after outgoing US President Joe Biden approved the attack. The escalation comes just two months before President Donald Trump takes office, promising peace negotiations between the two belligerent countries.
Following Russian missile and drone strikes, which reportedly killed 11 people, including two children, leaving eighty-nine injured, including 11 children – Ukraine has launched US-army-made Army Tactical Missile Systems, ATACMS, into Russia for the first time.
Tuesday is the 1000-day mark since Russia invaded Ukraine. According to NATO, North Korea sent an estimated ten thousand soldiers to aid Russia in driving out Ukrainian forces from its Kursk border region in the last month.
With just two months left in the White House, the Biden Administration gave the green light for Ukraine to use the ATACMS long-range strikes into Russia.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said Ukraine launched the attack in the Bryansk region Monday night. It claimed that six US-army-made ATACMS were used in the attack and that five of the six were intercepted while debris from one of the missiles fell on a military base, causing a fire. Russia reports no casualties or damage from the barrage.
Tuesday morning, Putin signed a revised nuclear doctrine, which states that any massive aerial attack on Russia could trigger a nuclear response and that any such attack would be considered a joint attack if NATO was involved.
In response to reporters at the G20 Summit in Brazil on Monday, Trudeau said he supports the U.S. and its allies’ decision to allow Ukraine to launch aerial attacks into Russia.
“I have, for months now, talked about how important it is to degrade the capacity of the Russian military to strike into Ukraine with impunity because Ukraine hasn’t been able to strike on factories and military production sites in Russia,” Trudeau said. “I think it’s a good thing that the United States has done that and other partners are doing that.”
Blaire also supported the US decision to relax restrictions on Ukraine in its use of the US-made long-range weapons.
“Canada has taken a position in support of Ukraine’s request, and also, we place no geographic restrictions on the use of any of the armaments or munitions that Canada provides to Ukraine,” Blaire said in a scrum Monday. “Everything we were able to do to help Ukraine defend itself from that illegal invasion will bring us closer to peace.”
Blaire stated that future discussions about the conflict will inevitably occur, but Canada supports the US decision in the meantime. He said the easing of restrictions will be important in allowing Ukraine to defend itself by targeting Russia’s missile launch sites, airfields, and “other military installations.”
“NATO has been responding to, and Ukraine is also responding to an escalation in aggression from Russia, with the use of now, North Korean soldiers, the use of North Korean munitions, and some of the further attacks, particularly missile and drone attacks that Russia is sending towards Ukraine,” Blaire said.
In September, Putin said the use of long-range missiles would constitute a joint attack by NATO.
“The Ukrainian army is not capable of using cutting-edge high-precision long-range systems supplied by the West,” Putin said. “These weapons are impossible to employ without intelligence data from satellites, which Ukraine does not have. This can only be done using the European Union’s satellites, or US satellites – in general, NATO satellites.”
He also claimed the operation of those missiles could only be assigned by NATO military personnel and that Ukrainian servicemen were incapable of doing so.
“If this decision is made, it will mean nothing short of direct involvement – it will mean that NATO countries, the United States, and European countries are parties to the war in Ukraine,” Putin said. “This will mean that NATO countries – the United States and European countries – are at war with Russia.”
When asked to confirm or deny Putin’s claims, the Department of National Defence did not respond to True North’s requests to comment.
Following Trump’s election victory, Putin said he was open to negotiating a withdrawal from Ukraine, though the details of what that would look like are not known.
Similarly, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a Trump win means the war would “end sooner” and that nothing he heard from his conversation with Trump following his victory indicated a departure from Ukraine’s national interests.