‘Absolutely horrifying’: Freeland promises justice for sexual violence victims in Ukraine
Global News
The deputy prime minister told reporters Thursday that Canada is committed to seeking justice for the victims alleging sexual violence by Russian soldiers.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland says Canada is committed to seeking justice for Ukrainian women and children as allegations mount of sexual violence by Russian soldiers.
Freeland was asked Thursday about war crimes that Russia has been accused of committing on Ukrainian citizens and the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war.
“War crimes have been committed in Ukraine, they are being committed in Ukraine. The evidence that we’ve seen in Bucha and other parts of Ukraine that have been under Russian occupation is absolutely horrifying,” Freeland said after a tour of a carbon capture facility in Calgary.
Freeland said Canada would work with its democratic allies to prosecute those responsible.
“Rape is being used as a weapon in this war and I want the women of Ukraine to know that we see them, we are not going to forget and we will work with Ukraine and with our democratic allies around the world to bring the perpetrators to justice.”
Freeland, who also serves as finance minister, said she spoke with her Ukrainian counterpart Thursday to voice Canada’s support.
She also said it’s appropriate to declare Russia’s occupation a genocide _ as U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have said _ since thousands of Ukrainians have been killed and brutalized.
Freeland pointed to a “chilling document” on a Russian website published 10 days ago “that effectively laid out a plan for genocide in Ukraine, that called for the suffering, the punishment of people who chose, in the view of this document, wrongly and mistakenly to describe themselves as Ukrainian.”
The death is being investigated by federal authorities but "the preliminary cause" has been ruled an accident.
The incident took place more than a month ago, on October 13, but it wasn't reported until the British tabloids got wind of the story.
Health officials said Saturday they have confirmed the first U.S. case of a new form of mpox that was first seen in eastern Congo.
Washington is easing limits on what Ukraine can strike with U.S.-made weaponry, U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Sunday.
Ukraine plans to conduct its first long-range attacks in the coming days, sources said, without revealing details due to operational security concerns.
Concerns storm surges could raise water levels between one and three feet above ground level as Tropical Storm Sara makes landfall in Belize.
Air defenses could be heard engaging drones over Kyiv in the night, and a series of powerful blasts rang out across the city as the missile attack was under way in the morning.
John Kirton, head of the G20 Research Group, says the forum is the main tool countries have to prepare for the second Donald Trump presidency.
Israeli airstrikes on the village of Khreibeh in the Baalbek District of eastern Lebanon killed six people on Saturday, including three children the Lebanese health ministry said.
The APEC summit marked the end of trade talks that should lead to Canada signing a new deal with the world's fourth-most populous country next year.
The Port of Montreal authority confirms that the Canada Industrial Relations Board has ordered operations to resume as of 7 a.m. Saturday.