Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is greeted by Canadian ambassador to Switzerland Patrick Wittmann as he arrives in Zurich, Switzerland on Saturday, June 15, 2024. Trudeau will be attending the Ukraine peace summit. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
BURGENSTOCK, Switzerland – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Russia needs to be accountable for “an element of genocide” he says it’s committing by taking thousands of Ukrainian children from their home.
He addressed reporters this morning at the summit on peace in Ukraine taking place in Switzerland.
More than 90 countries are attending the summit this weekend, which aims to spark discussions of a path toward ending the war between Russia and Ukraine.
With Russia absent from the summit, the meeting in Switzerland is largely seen as a symbolic effort by Kyiv to rally the international community to Ukraine’s cause.
At the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trudeau co-chaired a session alongside Norway on the human dimension of the war, which touches on prisoners of war, civilian detainees and deported children.
Speaking to reporters afterwards, he said they discussed the need to have Russia “engage on the fact” it has abducted nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children over the course of the war, adding that it having done so amounts to an element of genocide” and is “pure colonialism.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 16, 2024.
