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Ukraine's Zelenskiy Attends UK Cabinet, Renews Calls on Long-range Missiles

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (R) speaks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) during the Opening Plenary at the European Political Community (EPC) meeting at Blenheim Palace, in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, Britain, 18 July 2024. EPA/CHRIS RATCLIFFE / POOL
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (R) speaks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) during the Opening Plenary at the European Political Community (EPC) meeting at Blenheim Palace, in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, Britain, 18 July 2024. EPA/CHRIS RATCLIFFE / POOL
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Ukraine's Zelenskiy Attends UK Cabinet, Renews Calls on Long-range Missiles

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (R) speaks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) during the Opening Plenary at the European Political Community (EPC) meeting at Blenheim Palace, in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, Britain, 18 July 2024. EPA/CHRIS RATCLIFFE / POOL
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (R) speaks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) during the Opening Plenary at the European Political Community (EPC) meeting at Blenheim Palace, in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, Britain, 18 July 2024. EPA/CHRIS RATCLIFFE / POOL

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addressed British government ministers on Friday, a rare appearance by a foreign leader at a cabinet meeting that new Prime Minister Keir Starmer hopes will underline London's support for Kyiv.
A day after hosting a forum of European leaders at Blenheim Palace, Starmer pressed on with his bid to raise Britain's role in international affairs by inviting Zelenskiy to address his cabinet of top ministers. The last foreign leader to do so was US President Bill Clinton in 1997, Starmer's office said.
Zelenskiy renewed his call for Western allies to allow long-range strikes on Russia, saying Britain should try to convince its partners, which have taken varying approaches to how Ukraine can use weapons they supply, to remove the limits on their use, Reuters said.
"Right now we are missing the main answer to this question and that is our long-range capability," Zelenskiy said at the beginning of the meeting in Downing Street. "Please convince the other partners to remove the limits."
Starmer told Zelenskiy Britain would speed up delivery of vital aid to Ukraine, after his defense minister said earlier this month that the deliveries promised by the former Conservative government would be delivered within 100 days.
"Ukraine is, and always will be, at the heart of this government's agenda and so it is only fitting that President Zelenskiy will make a historic address to my cabinet," Starmer said in a statement before the meeting.
Britain has been a vocal supporter of Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, and Starmer swiftly reaffirmed London's commitment to Kyiv after winning a landslide election earlier this month, telling Zelenskiy at NATO that while there was a change of government, there was "no change of approach".
He said on Thursday that Britain would pursue a new plan to try to disrupt Russia's attempts to evade shipping sanctions. On Thursday, Britain announced sanctions on 11 vessels used to transport Russian oil.
The new measures against Russia's so-called "shadow fleet" include plans to share data on the network of the often older tankers used in shipping Russian oil, so that individual vessels can be identified and action taken against them.
He also unveiled the Defence Export Support Treaty, to be signed by defense ministers, that will enable Ukraine to draw on 3.5 billion pounds ($4.5 billion) of export finance, to fire up both countries' defense industrial bases and boost production.
Starmer, at NATO last week, re-committed to a pledge by his predecessor, Conservative Rishi Sunak, to deliver 3 billion pounds a year of military support to Ukraine until 2030-31 and beyond if needed.

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Canada Liberals Vote to Replace Trudeau as PM

(FILES) Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau speaks at a press conference in the Old Port of Montreal in Montreal, Canada, on February 19, 2025. (Photo by ANDREJ IVANOV / AFP)
(FILES) Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau speaks at a press conference in the Old Port of Montreal in Montreal, Canada, on February 19, 2025. (Photo by ANDREJ IVANOV / AFP)
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Canada Liberals Vote to Replace Trudeau as PM

(FILES) Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau speaks at a press conference in the Old Port of Montreal in Montreal, Canada, on February 19, 2025. (Photo by ANDREJ IVANOV / AFP)
(FILES) Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau speaks at a press conference in the Old Port of Montreal in Montreal, Canada, on February 19, 2025. (Photo by ANDREJ IVANOV / AFP)

Canada's Liberal Party elects a new leader this weekend to replace Justin Trudeau as prime minister and take charge of confronting the threats posed by US President Donald Trump.

Trudeau, who became Liberal leader in 2013 before taking over as prime minister two years later, announced in early January that he planned to resign, overcome by dismal polling numbers and internal party dissent, AFP reported.

Before Christmas, the opposition Conservatives looked certain to win a general election that must be held by October but could be called within weeks.

Trade chaos with the United States and Trump's repeated musing about annexing Canada have upended the political climate and surveys show the Liberals gaining ground.

"The context is completely unprecedented. Right now the only thing that matters to Canadians is 'who is the right person to take on Donald Trump?'" Frederic Boily of the University of Alberta told AFP.

Four candidates qualified to run in the Liberal leadership race but only two are seen as viable contenders.

The front-runner is Mark Carney, who led the Bank of Canada before becoming the first non-Briton to serve as governor of the Bank of England.

His main challenger is Chrystia Freeland, Trudeau's former finance minister who dramatically broke with the prime minister in December, issuing a scathing resignation letter that partly pushed him to resign.

Both Carney and Freeland have anchored their campaigns on the Trump threat.

Carney, who has never held elected office, has sought to remind Liberal party voters that he led Canada's central bank through the 2008-2009 financial crisis and steered the Bank of England through the turbulence that followed the Brexit vote.

"Canada faces one of the most serious crises in our history. I know how to manage crises and I know how to build strong economies," he said during a leadership debate.

Freeland has warned that Trump "is posing the gravest challenge our country has faced since the Second World War," and highlighted her experience negotiating directly with Trump's first administration.

- Transfer of power -

The winner of the Liberal leadership race will be announced in Ottawa on Sunday.

The party says that 400,000 people have signed up to vote and boasted of unprecedented fundraising in recent weeks.

Trudeau declined this week to give a precise date for when he would hand over power, telling reporters he would work out transition timelines with the new Liberal leader.

When ready, Trudeau and his successor will visit Governor General Mary Simon -- King Charles III's official representative in Canada -- who will task the new Liberal chief with forming a government.

The date Canadians will head to the polls for a general election remains unclear.

'Unique crisis'?

Most polls, and betting markets, still put the Conservatives as the favorites to win the next election.

But the Liberals have tried to portray Tory leader Pierre Poilievre as a Trump-like figure, citing his right-wing populist style and record of bashing favorite Trump targets with inflammatory rhetoric, including government and the media.

Experts say the Liberals may be wise to call snap elections with the Trump threat front of mind, including a trade war that Trudeau says the president launched to collapse the Canadian economy to make annexation "easier."

Carney, 59, is attractive because of his "economic experience and his seriousness," said Stephanie Chouinard, a political scientist at Canada's Royal Military College.

"He knows the global financial system and he knows the strengths and weaknesses of the Canadian economy," she added.

Surveys indicate the election will be unlike any in recent Canadian history, with historically dominant domestic issues like health care and housing costs surpassed by Trump.

"This is a unique crisis, and we do not know its scope or its duration. Today, a third of Canadians see the United States as an enemy country. It is historic and creates considerable upheaval in the way Canadians think," said pollster Jean-Marc Leger.