Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday condemned Russia’s “falling and failing” president, joining a chorus of global outrage aimed at Vladimir Putin’s panicked escalation of the war in Ukraine. Trudeau was wrapping up two days at the United Nations when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking to the General Assembly via video, called on the international body to punish and isolate his country’s torturer. The seven-month war dominated UN discussions during the prime minister’s visit, overshadowing an agenda largely focused on Trudeau’s traditional priorities of climate change, biodiversity and international development. That was even more so on Wednesday, after Putin announced plans for Russia’s largest mobilization of reserves since World War II and issued ominous warnings about the use of nuclear weapons. For Trudeau, it was all evidence of an abject and widening failure. “Putin was wrong and now he is failing and failing in his response to the situation,” he said at a news conference he gave late. The decision to impose “partial conscription” is evidence of something Putin has never been willing to admit to his own people, Trudeau said: that the war “is an example of things not going according to his plan.” Trudeau promised to maintain ever-tightening economic sanctions against Russia, help train Ukraine’s military and keep aid and humanitarian aid flowing — ammunition is a specific request, he noted — but offered few details on what else may be in the cards. He pointed to Canada’s expertise in exporting and shipping grain around the world, a particular challenge given Ukraine’s role as a leading global source. That particular pressure has eased recently as a result of a UN effort, with Turkey helping to get Ukrainian grain past the Russian blockade. Trudeau called Putin’s nuclear rattle — “This is not a bluff,” Putin said as he threatened to use all means at his disposal to prevail in the conflict — “absolutely unacceptable” and too terrible to ignore. Those threats, Trudeau said, “we have to take seriously, but we also have to stand up very strongly.” Shortly before Trudeau’s press conference, Zelensky himself addressed the General Assembly via video — a rare exception to U.N. rules that leaders-level speeches must be delivered in person. Zelensky urged delegates to strip Russia, a founding member of the UN, of its vote in international institutions as well as its coveted veto in the UN Security Council. Ukraine’s soldiers “can return the Ukrainian flag to our entire territory. We can do it by force of arms,” he said. “But we need time.” Earlier on Wednesday, US President Joe Biden took his bully pulpit to the iconic Assembly Hall podium, saying Putin had “brazenly violated the basic principles of the UN charter”. “This war is about removing Ukraine’s right to exist as a state, plain and simple, and Ukraine’s right to exist as a people,” Biden said. “Whoever you are, wherever you live, whatever you believe… this should make your blood run cold.” The Russia-Ukraine dynamic largely usurped much of what Trudeau spent two days announcing and talking about in New York, including an announcement of $1.21 billion for the Global Fund, a 20-year effort to eliminate treatable infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in the developing world. “We live in a dark and stormy time where things can seem so dark,” Trudeau told the crowd, many of whom crowded around him for chats and selfies during a break in the proceedings. “But when I look at what we’ve done together against diseases like HIV/AIDS, which for decades have devastated communities, what I see is hope. What I see is proof that our institutions can work well.” There was also another $100 million for measures designed to help those efforts avoid being hampered by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a crisis that Trudeau, when asked, would not say has largely run its course. There was $20 million in post-earthquake reconstruction aid for Haiti, where rampant gang violence has paralyzed the country and largely overwhelmed an interim government. And there has been an unrelenting effort to ensure climate change remains near the top of the agenda, despite what Bob Rae, Canada’s ambassador to the UN, has called a “cascade of crises” competing for attention and aid. That effort has been largely successful, even in Europe, where Russia’s war is an ever-present threat, Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbaut said earlier Wednesday. “They want to generate 25 percent of their electricity from rooftop solar panels by 2030. It’s incredible,” he said. “They are investing more and more. And Canada has said we will help Europe in as many ways as we can while maintaining our fight against climate change.” Biden, he added, recently signed his Inflation Reduction Act, which includes about $369 billion in funding for climate initiatives, the largest investment of its kind in U.S. history. “I don’t think climate change takes a back seat,” he said. “We live in an age where, regardless of what other important things are happening on the international stage, environmental issues such as climate change and biodiversity loss have become international priorities.” Ray said Tuesday that he recently visited Haiti to see the chaos for himself. Gangs have even taken over the courthouse in the capital Port-au-Prince, he said. “We’re not going to state … that we have a magic solution. It doesn’t work like that,” Ray said. “We will try to play as constructive a role as we can. We all know that more will be required.” This report by The Canadian Press was first published on September 21, 2022. With files from The Associated Press.
