Canada pledges support for Ukraine air defence as Zelensky visits

Canada on Thursday announced CAN$350 million (US$260 million) to boost Ukraine's air defenses, a key priority as Russia steps up ballistic missile attacks, as President Volodymyr Zelensky visited western Canada.

Prime Minister Mark Carney, who announced the deal alongside Ukraine's leader, said Ottawa and Kyiv had also reached a deal on drone production.

"Canada will always be with you," Carney assured Zelensky after the leaders signed a separate deal pledging to conclude a "hundred-year partnership."

Canada is home to many people of Ukrainian origin, including 350,000 in Alberta province where the two leaders met.

Zelensky called the agreements inked in the western Canadian city of Calgary "serious" and said they would help protect Ukraine's "skies" as the war Russia launched in 2022 grinds on.

Beyond aerial defense, Carney said Canada was offering CAN$450 million in loan guarantees to enhance the Ukrainian energy supply.

The funds will help repair damaged infrastructure, increase storage capacity and improve power supply to hospitals.

The goal is "to help Ukrainians get through the winter," Carney said.

On the drone deal, Zelensky told reporters that "30 percent of these drones will go to Ukraine immediately to (the) battlefield, immediately to our people, our soldiers ... to save our children, our families first of all."

Asked about potential negotiations to ease the fighting, Zelensky said he did not anticipate any substantive talks during Russia's ongoing election period.

But he said he plans to meet US President Donald Trump in New York in late September, likely on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, with Washington bidding to revive long-stalled talks to end the war.

"But at the end of September, we will have an opportunity to meet, I think, with the American team in New York," Zelensky said.

"And I think that... I can be more open after the New York meeting with President Trump."