Commentary

It's a long way from the killing fields of Kandahar to the laneways of Lviv, Ukraine — but for Lt.-Col. Pierre Leroux, the newer conflict carries some echoes of the older one. When Leroux arrived in Afghanistan in the fall of 2010, the Canadian army was helping to train Afghan forces to fight in the middle of a shooting war with the insurgent Taliban. In 2019, Leroux leads the Canadian task force training Ukrainian soldiers to fight an equally deadly, hot-and-cold conventional war with Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine's eastern regions...

The more scrutiny that is applied to presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the worse he is holding up. There are the increasingly obvious and troubling connections to billionaire oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, including at a Zelenskiy campaign headquarters in Kyiv, in which such Kolomoisky associates as lawyer Andriy Bohdan are regular fixtures. It, however, is not a secret location as the investigation implied. The address, 7 Novoselitska St., in the Pechersk District in Kyiv is where Kyiv Post and other journalists are sent to meet with the candidate and his representatives. There’s also an office on the second floor of the Olympisky Trade Center...

Ater this weekend’s first round of voting in Ukraine’s presidential election, Volodymyr Zelensky, a popular actor, and Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine’s current leader, have emerged as front-runners. Ukraine’s next president, though, will be either Poroshenko or Zelensky’s alter ego, Vasyl Holoborodko. Holoborodko is the incorruptible television president Zelensky plays in the hit series Servant of the People, now in its third season. A simple schoolteacher, whose tirade against corruption is filmed by a student and goes viral, Holoborodko catapults to the presidency. In real life, Zelensky has kept his campaigning to a minimum. He has let Holoborodko do the work for him, which may mean that the only way to guess at the real man’s views may be to take seriously the fake one’s...

Russia has sent “squadrons” of nuclear-capable Tu-22M3 strategic bombers to Crimea in response to the deployment of U.S. Navy Aegis Ashore missile defense installations in Romania, according to a report in Russian state-run media. “The deployment of American missile defense systems in Romania came as a major challenge, in response to which the Russian Defense Ministry made the decision to deploy long-range missile-carrying bombers Tupolev Tu-22M23 at the Gvardeyskoye air base,” Viktor Bondarev, the head of the Russian Federation Council’s Committee for Defense and Security, was quoted by Russia’s TASS news agency as saying Monday. “This move has drastically changed the balance of forces in the region,” Bondarev said of the missile defense shield. While the bombers are capable of carrying nuclear weapons, it is unclear if those weapons would come with the bombers when they are sent to Crimea...

15 March, 2019. OTTAWA. The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) applauds the announcement by Canada's Department of Global Affairs that 114 individuals and 15 entities have been sanctioned in response to Russia's aggressive actions in the Black Sea and the Kerch Strait and Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea. Last November three Ukrainian ships were captured by Russian naval forces, 24 Ukrainian sailors were captured and are still in Russian captivity in addition to over 70 other Ukrainian citizens who are currently illegally imprisoned in Russia. We welcome sanctions in response to this premeditated and deliberate act of aggression against Ukraine by Russia, which has been waging war on Ukraine for over 5 years...

Former foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy will lead Canada's election observation mission to Ukraine as concerns mount that Russia may interfere in the country's democratic process, CBC News has learned. "Mr. Axworthy will head the Canadian delegation of short- and long-term elections observers deployed to Ukraine," said a release obtained by CBC News. "Together, they will observe all aspects of the presidential and legislative elections, including monitoring the participation of women, internally displaced persons and minorities in the electoral process." Axworthy, who served under former prime minister Jean Chretien, led the Organization of American States election observation mission to Peru in 2006. The release also states that Canada will provide funding to counteract the "negative impact of disinformation" in the electoral process as well as supporting electoral reform and efforts to get more women to participate in the country's elections...

Canada has learned a lot about how to protect against foreign election meddling through its support of Ukraine in its ongoing battles with Russia, says Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland. Freeland described Ukraine as a "laboratory" for Russia's disinformation campaigns in cyberspace as she and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan announced Monday that Canada is extending its military missions in Ukraine and Iraq — commitments that were both due to expire at the end of the month...

Russia’s Communist U.S.S.R. state model and attempts to export it worldwide crashed. The U.S.S.R. satellites and republics found it too repressive. It was dumped unceremoniously by some half-billion people by 1991. The model was too authoritarian, unjust, riddled with corruption, poverty, wars, and murders. It was dangerous; dismissed by all except dictators. One of the latest to embrace it, Venezuela, now finds itself in economic and political ruin while it’s substantial energy wealth is sequestered, conveniently, in Russia. True, China’s Communist model works, but to succeed it adopted a healthy dose of western elements. Now the Kremlin is trying again. In...

It is often assumed that unpopular political decisions regarding reforms cannot take place in an election year. Fearful of losing the support of voters as elections approach, few politicians are willing to push for disruptive changes even if they can bring long-term benefits for their country. However, as Ukraine’s economy lags far behind that of its European neighbors and as Russia continues its military and hybrid aggression against Ukraine, many experts argue that Kyiv cannot afford to avoid or delay reforms that will make its economy more productive and its society more prosperous...

On February 19, 2019 Etobicoke Centre MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj addressed the Special Session of the Verkhovna Rada dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the commencement of Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. Wrzesnewskyj, appearing as the Chair of the Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association and the Chair of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group, was invited by the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Andriy Parubiy, to deliver remarks to the Special Session and to witness the historic signing of a constitutional amendment strategically committing Ukraine on the paths toward both EU and NATO memberships...