By David Ljunggren
OTTAWA (Reuters) -The war in Ukraine is hurting the entire world and the longer it goes on, the worse the consequences will be for everyone, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday.
Trudeau made his remarks at a time when the United States and its allies accuse Chinese entities of helping Moscow’s military effort, and Washington and Ukraine say thousands of North Korean troops are in Russia.
“All of us and all of the international community must do whatever it takes to help bring an end to this war of aggression,” he told the second day of a two-day Montreal conference on how to secure the return of Ukrainian prisoners and children detained by Russia.
Trudeau, one of Ukraine’s most outspoken international backers, variously accused Moscow of boosting food insecurity, helping spread disinformation, emboldening other totalitarian regimes and undermining international law.
“Everyone will have to face the consequences of this war, and these will only worsen as Russia’s invasion continues,” said Trudeau. Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a special military operation, accusing Washington and its NATO partners of waging a hybrid war in Ukraine.
Kyiv says about 20,000 children have been taken from Ukraine to Russia or Russian-occupied territory without the consent of family or guardians. It calls this a war crime that meets the U.N. treaty definition of genocide while Moscow says it has protected vulnerable children from the war zone.
Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said the conference had ended with delegates pledging to work together to continue pressing Russia to return children. Qatar, South Africa and the Vatican had offered to serve as intermediaries, she said.
“(We’re) shedding a light on an issue that embarrasses Russia, and therefore it is even more important that we do so, because they can’t keep the fact that thousands of people are illegally deported or detained within Russia secret,” she told a press conference.
In 2023, the International Criminal Court issued warrants for the arrest of President Vladimir Putin and children’s commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova on war crimes charges related to the abduction of children.
Russia denounced the warrants as “outrageous and unacceptable.”
(Reporting by David Ljunggren; editing by Franklin Paul and Cynthia Osterman)
