Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit to Kyiv for Ukraine’s Independence Day was most welcome, continuing the admirable solidarity which Justin Trudeau showed on his four visits to Kyiv after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

Carney’s visit came in the context of his visit to Poland, Ukraine’s staunchest ally — and now a serious military force in Europe. A century ago, Poland and Ukraine were recent wartime enemies. It is one of the great reconciliations of recent history that the Western Slavs (Poland) and Eastern Slavs (Ukraine) have so thoroughly reconciled that when millions of Ukrainians fled westward in 2022 there were no refugee camps in Poland. Ukrainians were housed by Poles in their own homes.

The 20th Century was an exceedingly difficult one for the Slavic peoples; mere sur

See Full Page