Joly says Ukraine needs a security guarantee after Trump-Zelenskyy fight

Vice President JD Vance, center right, speaks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center left, as President Donald Trump, center, listens in the Oval Office at the White House on Friday, Feb. 28, 2025 in Washington. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Mystyslav Chernov

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said Friday there’s a good chance that Russia could re-invade Ukraine if there are no security guarantees in a peace deal.

Her comments came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump engaged in a shocking verbal brawl in the White House.

The two countries were expected to sign a critical minerals deal as part of efforts to end Ukraine’s war with Russia, but after Zelenskyy insisted that the deal include security guarantees from the U.S., Trump showed open disdain for the Ukrainian president.

• Zelenskyy, Trump clash in Oval Office shouting match

Zelenskyy left the White House and a planned news conference with Trump was cancelled.

The bizarre display prompted European leaders and Canadian politicians to line up in support of Ukraine online.

In a statement on social media, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada “will continue to stand with Ukraine and Ukrainians in achieving a just and lasting peace.”

Late Friday Trudeau’s office announced he would be attending a defence summit in London on Sunday that initially was only to include European leaders.

Europe was rattled earlier this month by Trump’s overtures toward Russia and began making their own plans to beef up defence of Ukraine, seeing it as a wider defence of Europe.

Canada was not mentioned as one of the countries invited to join the meeting when British Prime Minister Keir Starmer discussed the event during his trip to Washington to meet with Trump on Thursday.

Starmer is set to meet with Zelenskyy ahead of Sunday’s talks, and has also invited leaders from NATO, the European Commission, as well more than a dozen countries including France, Germany, Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands. Starmer’s office said in a statement that the event is intended to expand European action on Ukraine, including the goal of securing a peace deal, with discussions of ongoing military support and putting more economic pressure on Russia.

Many of the leaders who will be present in London, including Trudeau, were in Kyiv just five days ago to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Trump has moved to re-establish ties with Moscow, and his officials have begun holding Ukraine peace talks with Russia without Ukraine at the table.

Trudeau and most European leaders have stressed that Ukraine must be involved in any peace agreement.

Joly told reporters in Vancouver Friday afternoon that “we think Ukrainians are fighting for their own freedoms, but also fighting for ours, and we know that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has no red lines.”

“If we don’t have a good deal for Ukraine, if we’re not supporting Ukraine, there’s a real risk that President Putin will go back to Russia, re-arm and re-invade Ukraine.”

She said that would pose a security threat not just to Ukraine but to NATO.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh repeated his call Friday for the federal government to bar Trump from coming to Canada for the G7 summit this June.

“Zelenskyy is what courage looks like in these times. This is what it is to resist Donald Trump,” Singh wrote in a post on X.

Singh said he “would rather stand with President Zelenskyy any day than invite Donald Trump to our country.”

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet expressed his indignation over Trump’s treatment of Zelenskyy. He said in a French-language post on X that “we stand unequivocally” with Ukraine and Zelenskyy.

In a post on X Friday evening, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Conservatives “stand with Ukraine in its defence against Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion.”

“I also firmly believe that the future of Ukraine must be determined by the Ukrainian people,” Poilievre said. “Conservatives will always stand on the side of freedom and democracy.”

Maxime Bernier, a former Conservative foreign affairs minister turned leader of the right-wing People’s Party of Canada, lined up behind Trump.

In an interview, Bernier said Trump was right to be firm, while Zelenskyy was being “very arrogant.” Bernier has insisted for some time that Canada was wrong to spend billions on aid to Ukraine, though he remains offside from mainstream political views in Canada.

Alexandra Chyczij, the national president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, issued a statement saying the “shameful attack by Trump and Vance on President Zelenskyy was one of the most disgraceful things we have ever witnessed” from a U.S. administration.

Orest Zakydalsky, the group’s senior policy adviser, said in an interview that it was a “setup” to invite “a leader of a country fighting for its life to the Oval Office and then to attack and berate him for no reason whatsoever.”

“It’s part of the new reality we live in, which is that the United States under President Trump is no longer a reliable ally to Ukraine or, frankly, any of its other allies,” he said.

“It was absolutely appalling what the president and vice-president did.”

Joly told reporters Canada continues to talk with European officials about continued support for Ukraine.

She said the world can’t afford a bad deal because it would demonstrate that Putin can take advantage of other countries, including the U.S.

“Clearly, the Russians are noting the interaction that happened today,” Joly said.

“Our goal is to make sure that we can continue to support Ukrainians and that we can keep very strong G7 unity amidst all this unpredictability and sometimes even chaos.”

While visiting Kyiv earlier this week, Trudeau said Canada could end up sending troops to the region as part of a peace deal.

With files from Kyle Duggan

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 28, 2025