“I have seen firsthand the brutality of Russia’s illegal war,” Trudeau said.
Kyiv:
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Sunday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin was responsible for “war crimes”, during a visit to Ukraine he met with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“It is clear that Vladimir Putin is responsible for heinous war crimes,” Trudeau told a news conference with Ukraine’s leader.
“There must be accountability,” he said after the G-7 meeting, including the Ukrainian president.
Earlier in the day, Trudeau visited Irpin outside Kyiv, a city devastated by fierce fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces before its occupation by Moscow in March, the city’s mayor said.
“I saw firsthand the brutality of Russia’s illegal war,” he told reporters.
Irpin Mayor Oleksandr Markushin posted pictures of Trudeau on an official social media channel, adding that he had come to “Irpin to see with his own eyes what the Russian occupiers had done for our city”.
Trudeau’s visit came on the same day that US First Lady Jill Biden made an unannounced visit to Ukraine.
Markushin thanked the prime minister for “the support Canada has shown to Ukraine today”.
“We believe in the continued cooperation between our countries to rebuild Ukrainian cities after our victory,” he said.
Irpin counted around 60,000 residents before Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his attack on Ukraine on 24 February.
Ukraine accused the Russian military of atrocities against civilians – such as in Buka, a city close to Kyiv – after the discovery of dozens of bodies dressed in civilian clothes in areas abandoned by the Russian military.
Several Western political leaders, including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, have recently visited Irpin and other residential areas around the capital Kyiv where the Russian military was accused of killing hundreds of civilians.
Trudeau was joined by Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Foreign Minister Melanie Jolie, who together unfurled the maple leaf flag at Canada’s mission in Kyiv.
Trudeau said Canada resumed operations in Kyiv today.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)