President meet with Canadian Prime Minister
President Andrzej Duda said on Thursday, after his Warsaw talks with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, that he hopes Canada will contribute funds for Ukraine's post–war reconstruction.
Andrzej Duda told a press conference that he believes Ukraine should be granted the status of an EU candidate country and that the EU should earmark funds for Ukraine's reconstruction after the Russian invasion ends.
„I also hope these will be not only European funds, but also global funds, including from Canada and the USA,” he said.
Andrzej Duda added that these funds should already be collected, as „we all hope that the war will end soon.”
He thanked Trudeau for coming to Poland „to bear witness to the strength and the Euro–Atlantic and Nato community” and for introducing sanctions against Russia „in order to force the end of the fight... stop destroying Ukraine and murdering the civilian population.”
„These crimes bear signs of genocide, because when someone attacks maternity hospitals full of pregnant women, if someone bombards residential houses, housing estates where there are no military installations, if someone destroys, burns apartment buildings, if someone kills ordinary civilians – these are simply war crimes,” Andrzej Duda said.
He added that believed that „criminals will answer before an international tribunal,” and pledged Polish aid so that „intergovernmental prosecutors could collect evidence... trials could begin and the perpetrators could be punished.”
Trudeau vowed that Canada would be happy to host refugees from Ukraine.
„Of course Canada is going to be welcoming Ukrainians to our country so we’ve actually provided an additional funding of USD 117 million to support special immigration measures including accelerating the treatment of files so that we can get Ukrainians fleeing for their lives to Canada sooner and help ease the burden of Poland and neighbouring countries that are doing so much in this conflict right now,” he said. (PAP)
