Ukraine missing support from the West

On Day 718 of the war in Ukraine, troops were under heavy attack trying to defend the poorly fortified front line north of Avdiivka where only some 950 residents remain from a pre-war population of 33,000. Taking Avdiivka, which seems inevitable and where fighting has raged since October, would be a propaganda victory for Moscow as the two-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion nears. The city is a strategic gateway to capturing all of the Donetsk region.

- By Rosie Dimanno

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau leave a joint press conference in September. Ukraine is still begging for 83,000 surplus air-to-ground rockets slated for disposal. And Trudeau has given no reasonable explanation for why they haven’t been handed over.

On Day 716 of the war in Ukraine, a $61.4-billion aid package edged incrementally closer to passing in the U.S. Senate — tied to a larger package that includes aid for Israel and Taiwan. But Republicans have vowed to delay consideration via procedural dithering by forcing the Senate to navigate through a labyrinth of parliamentary rules.

Crucially, they’re demanding amendments linked to quashing illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border. That’s despite a wrangled bipartisan agreement that hit the skids once Donald Trump, the GOP presidential front-runner, came out against the deal. Because Trump doesn’t want U.S. President Joe Biden to resolve the border crisis ahead of the American election. It’s fodder for his comeback campaign.

On Day 714 of the war in Ukraine, Pierre Poilievre and his party disgraced themselves by voting once more against an updated free-trade agreement between Canada and Ukraine over an ideological anvil — a carbon tax provision — that the Conservative leader has been banging his head against for months. Not that it matters. The bill passed on third reading Wednesday with support from the NDP and Bloc Québécois and now moves to the Senate for review. But whacking the Liberal government’s national carbon tax will clearly feature large for the Tories in Canada’s next election.