President of European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau once again condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“I want to emphasise three points. The first is that we are stepping up our humanitarian support, inside and outside Ukraine. In particular, I am very glad to hear that you are looking into it, and I am inviting you to channel in-kind support, if possible, to Ukraine via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism hubs. They are in Poland, in Romania and in Slovakia. And of course, we will also continue to support those who have been forced to flee Ukraine through our complementary resettlement efforts, if they wish so, and our assistance to neighbouring countries.

My second point is on sanctions. We now had four waves of unprecedented sanctions that we have taken together. And these sanctions have taken a heavy toll on Russia’s economy and its ability to wage war. Now, together with our G7 partners, we will make sure to keep the pressure high on the Kremlin, with strict enforcement and by tackling evasion and circumvention. For that, we are establishing a dedicated G7 working group to share information among us, to coordinate responses and to make sure that there is no sanctions evasion.

We also know that the brutal military violence of Putin’s war is flanked by attacks of a hybrid nature – in particular in the cyber space. Therefore, to counter this, the European Union and Canada will step up cooperation on cybersecurity and we will support the governments of Ukraine and Moldova on cyber defence and internet access.

My third topic is energy. Russia is not only threatening our security architecture in the military sense. But it is clear that our dependency, of the European Union, on Russian fossil fuels also puts Europe"s energy security in danger. We have to get rid of our dependency on Russian fossil fuels. As a response, the European Union and Canada will take our strategic energy cooperation to the next level. Commissioner Simson and Minister Wilkinson will meet already this week to further discuss potential Canadian energy supply to Europe. Then, the work will be followed-up in a dedicated working group. This cooperation with Canada will be part of our REPowerEU plan. As you know, the first aim is to massively invest in renewables because this is a strategic investment in our energy independence and security. But secondly to diversify away from Russian gas towards other suppliers that are trustworthy and reliable, like, for example, Canada”, - said Ursula von der Leyen.