THE RIGHT HONOURABLE JUSTIN TRUDEAU (Prime Minister of Canada): Thank you, my friends. President Zelenskyy. Volodymyr. Mustafa-aga, leader of the Crimean Tatar people. Partners. Allies. I’m joining you today from Toronto with the German Chancellor, my friend Olaf Scholz.

Last year, when Canada participated in the first Crimea platform summit, no one yet knew that Vladimir Putin would launch a full-scale, unprovoked invasion of the rest of Ukraine. Today, on the eve of Ukraine's Independence Day, we're here to reaffirm our steadfast support for the full restoration of your independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty.

We're here to remind the world that within Ukraine's internationally recognized borders, there is Crimea. Crimea is a part of Ukraine, not a part of Russia. In fact, we can't forget that Putin's invasion of Ukraine really started in 2014 with the attempted annexation and illegal occupation of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. The Ukrainian people have the right to defend themselves, including in Crimea.

Canada will continue to be there to support you and we know that our allies, like Germany, will continue to do the same.

Canada will always be there to support democracy and respect for the rules-based international system. When Russia invaded Crimea, it attacked that system. Its actions in Crimea and elsewhere in Ukraine are unacceptable. When I visited Ukraine in May, I saw the brutality of this war led by Vladimir Putin. The humanitarian plight is alarming.

There cannot be impunity for Putin and his enablers. Since 2014, Canada with our partners, has imposed hard hitting sanctions against over 1,750 individuals and entities from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. And today we're announcing new sanctions on 62 additional individuals and one defence sector entity that is complicit in Russia's war in Ukraine. We should all be deeply concerned about the consequences of Russia's war, both in Ukraine and around the world.

This includes inflation as well as economic, energy and food insecurity. Through the IMF, we recently provided $450 million in loans to Ukraine to support the purchase of necessary heating fuel before winter. We've now disbursed the complete $1.95 billion in loans committed this year. For food security, Canada proposed an initiative with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and we're investing $52 million to help address grain storage shortages in Ukraine.

I want to repeat, yet again, that there are no sanctions on food. When the Russian regime blames sanctions for the food crisis around the world, they're engaging in disinformation. We need to continue fighting Russian disinformation. That's why Canada will create a dedicated team to help increase our capacity to monitor and detect Russian and other state-sponsored disinformation. With this initiative, we will enable deeper international collaboration, including through the G7 Rapid Response Mechanism.

Canada will also provide additional support to Ukraine's security sector institutions through two different projects.

The first will support the national police of Ukraine and Ukraine's state emergency services, including with the provision of essential equipment and supplies.

And the second is focused on providing technical advice and support to Ukraine's Ministry of Defence.

We mustn't get accustomed to this Russian war of aggression and its atrocities. We have to be there for our Ukrainian friends. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak today. And thank you to all the participants for continuing to do their part.

We all remain steadfast together in our support to Ukraine and Crimea. And that's why I'm so glad to be here today with my friend, the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Olaf Scholz.

DMYTRO KULEBA (Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine): Thank you, Your Excellency and naturally the floor now goes to the Federal Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz. Sir, please.

OLAF SCHOLZ (Chancellor of Germany):  President Zelenskyy. Justin. Dear colleagues and friends of Ukraine, thank you very much for the invitation to this year's Crimea Platform summit. Eight years after Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea and six months after the beginning of Russia's latest blatant war of aggression, it is more than timely to come together with partners in this important forum.

Today, on the day we commemorate the victims of Stalinism and fascism, we make once again clear that the international community will never accept Russia's illegal imperialist annexation of Ukraine territory. Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine has been met with a courageous defence by the Ukrainian people. To them, I pay my utmost respect. Their resolve and bravery are admired and all over the world. They reject the world where might makes right, but great powers can just swallow up smaller states if they like. This summit demonstrates that today Ukraine's partners are more united than ever. I can assure you today as in Elmau, when I met with my fellow leaders of the G7, Germany stands firmly by the side of Ukraine, for as long as Ukraine needs our support.

We will uphold our unprecedented sanctions together with partners. We will support Ukraine financially. We will continue to supply weapons. We have put on track a new package, including another modern air defence system, rocket launchers and tons of ammunition, anti-drone devices and armoured recovery vehicles. Our hospitals will continue to treat wounded Ukrainians, our borders, our schools and our labour market will remain open to all who must flee Russia's terror.

What is equally important, together with our partners and allies, we have intensified our outreach to third countries to further strengthen the international support of Ukraine. Under the German G7 presidency, Argentina, Senegal, South Africa, India and Indonesia were invited to the Elmau Summit as partner countries and were closely involved in our discussions on the repercussions of the Russian war of aggression.

Be it via G7, the EU, the United Nations or the Crimea Platform. We will continue our international outreach and underline the global dimension of this conflict. We condemn Russia's attempts to forcefully integrate parts of Ukrainian territory. Our message is clear. Any sham referenda or other attempts to alter the status of parts of Ukrainian territory will never be recognized and that such steps preclude any negotiation approaches.

It is Russia, with its war of aggression, that is responsible for worsening food security, with grave implications for people worldwide. As a reaction to this crisis at this year's summit in Elmau. The G7 provided an additional $4.5 billion USD support for global food security. We welcome the recent United Nations agreement on grain exports by our maritime safe corridors.

As the European Union, we have facilitated grain exports via land and rivers, thus exporting over 8 million tons of Ukrainian grain between April and early August through our solidarity lanes. We also see that storage capacities in Ukraine are still under pressure. To address this, Canada, Germany and Japan are financing with over $60 million USD, a new program of the Food and Agricultural Organization.

This program, in coordination with the Ukrainian government, support small and medium sized farms with temporary and fixed storage solutions for grain and oilseeds. In addition, the international community also has to engage actively in the long term reconstruction of Ukraine, bearing in mind the size of the challenge. We need to accelerate the work that we started in Lugano. In support of this process, in my capacity as president of the G7 and together with the European Commission, I will host an international high-level expert conference for reconstruction in Berlin in October.

We want to bring in international expertise as early as possible and take forward the proposals that are already on the table.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm certain Ukraine will overcome the dark shadow of war because it is strong, brave and united in its fight for independence and sovereignty and because it has friends in Europe and all over the world. I wish my Ukrainian colleagues and friends a safe celebration of their national Independence Day tomorrow.

Thank you.