Editor’s Note: This feature separates Ukraine’s friends from its enemies. The Order of Yaroslav the Wise has been given since 1995 for distinguished service to the nation. It is named after the Kyivan Rus leader from 1019-1054, when the medieval empire reached its zenith. The Order of Lenin was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union, whose demise Russian President Vladimir Putin mourns. It is named after Vladimir Lenin, whose corpse still rots on the Kremlin’s Red Square, more than a century after the October Revolution he led.
Friend: Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was appointed for a second mandate on Sept. 21, and it’s good news for Ukraine.
Canada is home to one of Ukraine’s largest diaspora communities and is one of Ukraine’s top supporters as Russia’s war grinds into its eighth year. Both countries’ deep ties make Canada an important ally for Ukraine on the international scene.
On the sidelines of the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP26 in Glasgow on Nov. 1, President Volodymyr Zelensky and Trudeau held a meeting discussing the prospects of the war devastating Ukraine since 2014, as well as Ukraine’s NATO membership aspirations.
“During a meeting at COP26, I thanked Justin Trudeau for Canada’s continued support of Ukraine, our European integration, and NATO membership aspirations,” Zelensky wrote on Twitter on Nov. 1.
Both leaders also evoked revising a free trade area agreement between the two countries to expand bilateral economic links, a much-welcomed help as Ukraine struggles with the outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trudeau and Zelensky also talked about simplifying travel to Canada for Ukrainian citizens, a highly symbolic gesture for the two nations who share the same heritage after several waves of Ukrainians emigrated to Canada in the 20th century.
Such consistent, unwavering support from Trudeau helps Ukraine a great deal against Russia’s aggression in the Donbas and Europe’s apathy towards Nord Stream 2, Kremlin’s pipeline project bypassing Ukraine.
Foe: Olga Skabeeva, Russian television host
Olga Skabeeva is one of the most vicious mouthpieces of the Kremlin on Russian television, but her latest rant against Ukraine showed the full range of her savagery.
Nicknamed the “iron doll of Putin TV,” Skabeeva applauded Russia’s decision to stop exporting thermal coal to Ukraine on Nov. 1 on her show.
In front of images showing hospitals full of patients, she gloated over the fact “Ukrainians would freeze to death,” including children in nursery schools and sick people in hospitals, due to the potential coal shortage in the country before winter.
Skabeeva has a long record of spreading lies on behalf of her master in the Kremlin.
She regularly throws tantrums about Ukraine, justifying Russia’s war against Ukraine by spreading bigotry and hate speech ad nauseam.
However, this time, wishing such a fate to Ukrainian children and hospital patients is a low point, even for the caricature Skabeeva has become.
