Zelensky asks Trudeau to help Ukraine win permission to strike deep into Russia

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that he had asked Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step up advocacy among Ukraine’s Western partners to allow strikes on military targets deep inside Russia.

Zelensky urged Trudeau to lobby allies to grant “Ukraine permission and the necessary means to strike military targets on the territory of the aggressor country,” he said in an English-language post on X after the two leaders spoke by phone.

NATO member Canada, which has one of the world’s largest Ukrainian diasporas, has supplied military and financial assistance to Kyiv since Russia invaded in February 2022.

Trudeau’s office said in a statement that he told Zelensky that Russia’s attacks “further strengthen global unity and resolve in support of Ukraine at upcoming international engagements.”

Zelensky said on Telegram that the two leaders also discussed a conference that Canada is due to host on the topic of prisoners. The conference is a follow-up to a peace summit that Kyiv convened in June.

Trudeau’s office said Canada would host the meeting at the level of foreign ministers.

In Ottawa, a source directly familiar with the matter said the meeting would most likely take place in October. The source requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.