By David Ljunggren

OTTAWA, Reuters – The Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly is scheduled to visit Kyiv next Wednesday to reaffirm Canadian support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and to reinforce efforts to prevent Russia from “aggressive acts”, Ottawa announced on Saturday.

Moscow has deployed more than 100,000 soldiers near Ukraine’s border. On Friday, the United States declared that Russia had threatened to invade the United States and set up a covert invasion if diplomatic efforts fail to reach their objectives.

Canada with its large, politically powerful population of Ukrainian descent has been hard at work with Moscow ever since 2014’s annexation.

“The security of Ukraine is being compromised by the amassing Russian troops and their equipment around it.” Joly stated in a statement that these aggressive actions should be stopped.

Canada will cooperate with international partners in order to maintain the rules-based international order.”

Joly will travel to Ukraine to meet Denys Khmygal, Ukrainian Prime Minister. He’ll also be visiting the West of the Country to talk to 200 members of the Canadian training team that has been in place since 2015.

On Tuesday, Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, spoke with Volodymyr Zelenskiy the Ukrainian President. Trudeau’s Office stated that Trudeau “emphasized that any military invasion into Ukraine would have severe consequences including coordinated sanctions.”

Canada has placed punitive sanctions on over 440 persons and entities following the annexed Crimea.

Joly will begin a weeklong European trip on Sunday. He will be visiting Brussels to meet with NATO Secretary General Jens Steltenberg, and European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell.

The statement stated that she would also travel to Paris to meet with Jean-Yves Le Drian (French Foreign Minister).