July 12, 2016 by admin

Trudeau arrives in western Ukraine to visit troops

LVIV, Ukraine — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has arrived in western Ukraine for the final stop of his latest overseas trip.
He plans to greet Canadian Forces soldiers who have been training their Ukrainian counterparts since last summer.
The Canadians, alongside British and American troops, have been teaching the basics of soldiering, such as how to use their weapons and move as a unit, as well as more advanced skills such bomb disposal and medical training.
But whether the Canadian troops will still be there beyond the mission’s current expiry date of next March, however, remains an open question and was a key topic Monday when Trudeau met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv.
The previous Conservative government sent 200 Canadian military trainers to a base near the Ukrainian city of Lviv last year in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and support for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Trudeau arrived in Lviv from Kyiv, where he signed a long-awaited free trade deal with Ukraine. He also paid homage to Ukrainians killed in mass atrocities by the Nazis and Soviets in the 20th century, and more recently in the country’s 2014 revolution.
The prime minister arrived in Ukraine on Sunday after an emotional tour of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in neighbouring Poland.