‘He’s our hero’: Ukrainian Canadians hopeful as Zelenskyy joins G7 summit

The G7 Summit is bringing renewed hope to Alberta's Ukrainian community, but some feel snubbed by the early departure of the U.S. president.

Many Ukrainian Canadians are feeling cautiously optimistic as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with world leaders at the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis on Tuesday.

His visit comes as new sanctions are being imposed against Russia and fresh funding commitments to support Ukraine’s defence are announced.

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced $4.3 billion in support for Ukraine after meeting with Zelenskyy at the summit, including $2 billion for weapons and another $2 billion for infrastructure recovery.

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“He is a hero; he is our champion,” said Roman Yosyfiv, president of the Ukrainian Congress in Calgary.

Yosyfiv is among a number of people and delegates who will meet with Zelenskyy late Tuesday after he meets with the world leaders.

He said the support from Canada comes on the heels of one of the deadliest attacks on Kyiv this year.

According to Zelenskyy, 12 people were killed and more than 130 injured after the capital was hit by 32 missiles and more than 440 drones.

“This is insane, this has to stop. We have to yell and yell, and the G7, this is a place we can do it,” Yosyfiv said.

He was born in Ukraine and spent 18 years in Calgary but went back for three more years when the Russian invasion took place in 2022.

“You don’t want to hear those stories for sure. We hid in the basement with my one-and-a-half-year-old daughter. That’s definitely a dark side of the time for sure,” he recalled.

Yosyfiv was disappointed U.S. President Donald Trump was not part of the meeting with Zelenskyy or a working breakfast session on ending Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Trump left ahead of schedule Monday night to deal with the escalating violence in the Middle East.

“He left the summit, like one of the most important things, and then he left,” said Yosyfiv.

“I don’t believe he can’t do this from Kananaskis, even to make some decisions but to stay and show respect to all those leaders that came. He came and he left.”

The sentiment is shared among the Ukrainian community.

“What Ukrainians want is some sort of, ‘How is Trump going to deal with Putin?’” said Lee Reaney, chief editor of Lviv Times, who is in Banff covering the G7 summit.

“I think there’s an incredible disappointment that he left yesterday. I think there’s a big sentiment in Ukraine that he left because he didn’t want to deal with Zelenskyy, because he didn’t want to deal with questions about Putin ignoring his deadlines.”

Despite Trump’s absence, experts suggest Zelenskyy received strong backing from the remaining G7 leaders.

“I think President Zelenskyy would have liked the opportunity to have charmed Donald Trump to have Trump say publicly, ‘I will give you more money; I will give you stronger sanctions against Russia,’ but I think that was probably unrealistic,” said John Kirton, the director of the G7 Research Group.

However, Kirton believes Zelenskyy will leave feeling like his invitation and meetings at the summit were a success.

“Boy, he’s going to walk away from here with a lot more money, a lot more arms, and a lot more sanctions against Russia, so he’ll be pretty happy when he leaves.”