Today, Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs is visiting Kyiv to announce Canada will provide Ukraine with long-term bilateral security commitments and launch the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children, a joint Canada-Ukraine initiative to help address the unlawful deportation and kidnapping of Ukrainian children by Russia.

Even after the war, Ukraine will still have a dangerous neighbour. To help deter future Russian aggression, Canada will provide long-term bilateral security commitments alongside our G7 partners.

Since Russia's full scale-invasion, thousands of Ukrainian children have been forcibly deported to Russia and Belarus, less than 400 have been returned. Canada will work with Ukraine and coalition members to coordinate efforts, raise awareness of this issue and advocate for the return of children to Ukraine. Minister Joly will also announce that Canada will offer practical expertise, with Canadian officials ready to assist their Ukrainian counterparts should they express a need for technical expertise and resources.

Ensuring Ukraine's victory is vital to Canada's security. Ukraine must win, otherwise Europe, the US and Canada will be next in defending ourselves against Russian aggression. So, every Ukrainian soldier fighting today is one less Canadian who will have to fight in the future. Every dollar spent today is millions of dollars less that we will have to spend in the future.

We must stand with the Ukrainian people until they win - until we all win.