Italy and Canada sign security deals with Ukraine

25/2/2024 7:27

        The leaders of Canada and Italy signed security agreements with Ukraine on Saturday after talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as Kyiv marked the second anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion.
        
        Canada and Italy join Britain, Germany, France and Denmark in concluding 10-year security deals with Kyiv that are intended to shore up Ukraine's security until it can reach its aim of becoming a member of the NATO military alliance.
        
        "We continue to support Ukraine in what I have always believed is its people's just right to defend themselves," Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said at a news conference.
        
        "This also necessarily means military support, because to confuse the much bandied-about word 'peace' with 'surrender', as some do, is a hypocritical approach that we will never share," she said.
        
        Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that Ottawa's support for Kyiv remained "unwavering" two years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion.