Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 5, 2022, Winnipeg, Manitoba ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COMA4 C M Y K PAGE A4 SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2022WAR IN UKRAINE JESSICA LEE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Alexandra Shkandrij says the Ukrainian Canadian Congress is asking Ottawa to increase both military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine and support a NATO-enforced no-fly zone. A rally on Sunday will call on Manito- bans to do more to help Ukraine and ask NATO members to enforce a no-fly zone over the country being attacked by Russia. “It’s a desperate plea for help,” said Ukrainian Canadian Congress spokes- person Alexandra Shkandrij, who ex- pects elected officials from all three levels of government to attend the rally and show their support. “What we’re seeing is unprecedent- ed. You’re seeing the levelling of cities, you’re seeing the use of cluster bombs, you’re seeing the use of thermobaric weaponry, and you’re seeing the bomb- ing of a nuclear power station,” she said Friday after shelling by Russian forces damaged a plant in eastern Ukraine on Thursday. “None of these things have been seen in war and these are war crimes. These are civilian targets,” said Shkandrij, whose relatives in Ukraine are potential targets. “They send us updates letting us know which subway station they’re sheltering in so we know, just in case the worst happens, where to look for them,” said Shkandrij, the exhibits cu- rator at Oseredok who volunteers with the congress. She was getting the word out about Sunday’s 2 p.m. rally on the grounds of the Manitoba legislature. The congress has set up a portal for Manitobans to register if they’re will- ing to provide shelter to Ukrainians displaced by the war. The federal gov- ernment is expediting temporary visas for Ukrainians who seek safe haven in Canada. The congress is asking Ottawa to re- move the visa requirements for Ukrai- nians, impose tougher sanctions against Russian oligarchs, increase both lethal and humanitarian aid to Ukraine and support a NATO-enforced no-fly zone. The organizers of Sunday’s rally want NATO member states to enforce a no- fly zone in support of non-NATO mem- ber Ukraine. “NATO already is involved in this,” said Shkandrij. “They’re funding a war with Ukrainian soldiers rather than with citizens of NATO and west- ern states,” she said. If a NATO member state shoots down a Russian aircraft over Ukraine, Russia isn’t likely to back off and it won’t end well, said Andrea Charron, director of the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at the University of Manitoba. “The wider concern is that if we draw in the United States, the United King- dom, France, against Russia, this is go- ing to escalate quickly into a world war scenario,” Charron said Friday, noting that Canada’s air force doesn’t have the capability to enforce a no-fly zone. “The history of no-fly zones has been rather disastrous in many cases. It doesn’t achieve the desired goal of pro- tecting civilians,” the academic said. “In fact, then you have more assets raining down ammunition that can still hit civilians. And Russia will take this as a declaration of war.” The fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to use nuclear weapons if other countries use force to intervene in Ukraine is a “wicked problem,” said Charron. “We’re damned if we do and we’re damned if we don’t. Certainly, the Ukrainian people are going to feel this most acutely.” She has concerns about a no-fly zone but sees Sunday’s rally as an effective way to help Ukraine. “These peaceful protests are a way to show community support,” Charron said. “Videos are getting to people in Ukraine and that’s heartening for them to see that the world isn’t forgetting about them.” The rally is an opportunity to en- courage donations to humanitarian aid groups, she said. Shkandrij said the “existential threat” posed by Putin to Ukraine, to democra- cy and to the rules-based international order demands a tougher response. “If you allow for this to happen, then every state who has territorial ambi- tions and has nuclear weapons will pur- sue a similar path — and everyone who wants to go down that path will pursue nuclear weapons. So we’re in a position where we have to make choices that no one wants to make.” carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca Rally to demand no-fly zone over Ukraine CAROL SANDERS RUSSIA’S unprovoked attack against Ukraine may be uniting Manitobans at odds during the COVID-19 pandemic — such unity hasn’t seeped into a divided legislature, however. “Politics in Manitoba has become a blood sport,” NDP MLA Mark Wasyliw said. The Ukrainian-Canadian’s request an all-party committee work together to help Ukraine was rebuffed by the Progressive Conservative government during question period Thursday. On Friday, Wasyliw told the Free Press there are PC and Liberal mem- bers willing to work across party lines — especially on an urgent, non-partisan issue like helping Ukraine. Premier Heather Stefanson vowed to work col- laboratively when she was elected lead- er of the PCs, and Wasyliw said he is waiting to see it. “The previous premier set the tone,” Wasyliw said, referring to Brian Pallis- ter, whose style was known to be more combative than collaborative. Government house leader Kelvin Go- ertzen, who served as the interim pre- mier between Pallister resigning and Stefanson taking over, said political parties in Manitoba are united in their support for Ukraine and the PCs are open to any suggestions on how to help — without having to wait for a commit- tee to be formed. “This is not a partisan issue,” Goert- zen told the Free Press. The provincial government has already taken steps to provide financial and humanitarian aid to Ukraine and is considering further steps, the MLA for Steinbach said. “Any suggestions from political par- ties or the public are welcomed,” he said. “This is the quickest and most flexible way to respond to the unjust and unjustifiable war in Ukraine which is constantly evolving and changing.” Having an all-party committee ad- dress an issue deep concern to all Man- itobans is not unheard of, said Univer- sity of Manitoba political studies Prof. Christopher Adams. “I see the value of this and clearly in the Manitoba popula- tion, many are connected to the issue.” An estimated 180,00 Manitobans have Ukrainian roots. “I think it’s a smart move by the op- position, the NDP to call for this, and I could see why the PCs would rather not be involved with this rather than going ahead with it,” Adams said of an all-par- ty committee. “It does raise the profile of the oppo- sition to be to be calling for this and in some ways, it puts the PCs in a difficult position to say no.” carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca Call for all-party committee on Ukraine meets with resistance CAROL SANDERS O TTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is heading to several European capitals to strategize with allies as fallout from Russia’s inva- sion of Ukraine intensifies. Trudeau will spend next week in meetings in London and Berlin as well as Riga, Latvia, and Warsaw, Poland, saying he is joining partners to stand against Moscow’s aggression and strengthen democratic values. Allies will also work on countering “the kind of disinformation and mis- information that we know is a facet of day-to-day life these days, but a partic- ularly strong facet of this conflict, this war in Ukraine,” Trudeau said during a news conference Friday. Russian President Vladimir Putin has chosen to use military might and violence to achieve his ends, but he will fail, Trudeau said. “The biggest and strongest response we’ve had is actually in crippling the Russian economy, demonstrating to all Russians that Vladimir Putin made a terrible mistake,” he said. “The co-ordinated economic sanc- tions are working. Russia is reeling from the strong and aligned measures that democracies around the world have engaged in.” Canada’s foreign affairs minister met counterparts at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Friday to advance continu- ing efforts to sanction Russia for its in- vasion. Before the meeting, Mélanie Joly said ministers planned to discuss a Russian attack on a major nuclear power plant in the eastern Ukraine city of Enerhodar. Russian troops seized the plant, the largest in Europe, after a middle-of- the-night attack that set it on fire and briefly raised worldwide fears of a ca- tastrophe. Firefighters put out the blaze, and no radiation was released, United Nations and Ukrainian officials said, as Russian forces pressed on with their week-old offensive on multiple fronts and the number of refugees fleeing the country topped 1.2 million. Joly tweeted Friday that she spoke to the director general of the Internation- al Atomic Energy Agency about the ep- isode. “We call on the Russian regime to stop threatening nuclear sources,” she said. “A countless number of civilian lives are put at risk by these reckless acts.” Trudeau said late Thursday he had spoken with Ukrainian President Volo- dymyr Zelenskyy about the assault on the power plant. Following the attack, Zelenskyy ap- pealed again to the West to enforce a no-fly zone over his country. But NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg ruled out that possibility, citing the risk of a much wider war in Europe. He said the only way to implement a no-fly zone would be to send NATO planes to enforce it by shooting down Russian aircraft. The refusal to enforce a no-fly zone over Ukrainian territory reveals a pro- found misunderstanding of the gravity of the situation in which the world finds itself, said Alexandra Chyczij, national president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress. “Russia’s war of genocide against the Ukrainian people is not only a war against Ukraine. If Putin wins in Ukraine, the rest of Europe and the world will be threatened and menaced by his regime,” Chyczij said. “Russia is indiscriminately bombing and shelling Ukrainian civilians, pur- posely murdering innocent people.” Trudeau echoed Stoltenberg in de- fending the decision not to implement a no-fly zone. “The thing that we have so far avoid- ed, and we’ll continue to need to avoid, is putting a situation in which NATO forces are in direct conflict with Rus- sian soldiers,” he said. “That would be a level of escalation that is unfortunate.” In London, Trudeau plans to meet with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, as well as Prime Minister of the Nether- lands Mark Rutte, to co-ordinate addi- tional responses to Russia’s invasion, the Canadian Prime Minister’s Office said. Trudeau will also have an audience with the Queen during his visit. On Tuesday, the prime minister heads to Riga, where he will meet several leaders from the region, before moving on to Germany and Poland. While in Latvia, Trudeau also plans to see Stol- tenberg and Canadian Armed Forces members serving as part of Operation Reassurance. CBC/Radio-Canada said Friday it was very concerned about new legislation passed in Russia, saying it appears to criminalize independent reporting on the current situation in Ukraine and Russia. “In light of this situation and out of concern for the risk to our journalists and staff in Russia, we have temporar- ily suspended our reporting from the ground in Russia while we get clarity on this legislation,” the public broadcaster said in a statement. “We join other media in standing up for a free press and unimpeded access to accurate, independent journalism in Ukraine and Russia.” — The Canadian Press Trudeau heads to Europe to talk with allies JIM BRONSKILL Meeting with partners to stand against Moscow’s aggression NATHAN DENETTE / THE CANADIAN PRESS Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (right) speaks with Tamara Dowhal (centre) and Sophia Dowhal of the Ukrainian community in Toronto Friday. ● MORE WAR IN UKRAINE / A10-11 ;