Trudeau won't commit to extending Ukraine training mission beyond 2017

Ukraine's president made a personal appeal Monday for Canada to extend its military training in the western region of the embattled country, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was noncommittal as he and Petro Poroshenko celebrated the formal signing of a free trade between their countries.

The two leaders also ducked questions about whether Canada was prepared to put the eastern European nation on a list of countries where it's permissible to export Canadian-made weapons.

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Going into the meeting, Trudeau was expected to lean on Poroshenko to do more to live up to the Minsk 2 accord, which was supposed to stop the fighting with Russian-backed separatists in two rebellious eastern districts.

He came out sounding conciliatory, noting the "extremely important and difficult steps" taken by Ukraine's parliament and institutions to implement the peace deal.

"It's also clear on the security side of the Minsk implementation, Russia has not been a positive partner," Trudeau said. "They have not been moving responsibly or appropriately on things like (the) ceasefire and international observers." 

To that end, Trudeau announced Canada would contribute additional observers to the European international agency that's struggling to monitor the almost daily violations of the ceasefire along the front line.

There will also be $13 million more in humanitarian assistance, particularly for the hundreds of thousands displaced from their homes in the east.

'Russia should start ceasefire'

Poroshenko claimed his government has lived up to over 95 per cent of its political obligations, and 100 per cent of the security pledges it made when the international accord was signed early last year.

"It is vitally important for us that Russia meet the criteria for security," he said. "This is Russia who should start the ceasefire. This is Russia who should make a disengagement. This is Russia who should remove the heavy artillery and multi launch rocket systems, the tanks" from the front line.

Poroshenko, in his opening statement, said he asked Trudeau to extend Canada's military training mission beyond its 2017 end date.

There was no indication from the prime minister whether he would accept that.

"We will stand with our NATO partners, and push on, as you've seen, our friends and partners to continue to be steadfast in support of Ukraine," Trudeau said. "Not just because Ukraine is a good friend to Canada, but because of the values and principles that we stand for as a country."

Nor did Trudeau answer the question about whether his government is prepared to put Ukraine on a register of countries to which Canadian arms makers can export. 

He did say Canada was focused on the training mission. Canada has 200 trainers in the country.

Canada-Ukraine trade deal formally signed

The focus of the visit was meant to be on trade.

Earlier Monday, International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland formally signed the free trade agreement that had been negotiated by the former Conservative government.

The visit, Trudeau's first since being elected, started with solemn reflection.

The prime minister, together with his son Xavier, paid his respects at a park in Kyiv that was the scene of possibly the largest shooting massacre of the Holocaust.

They also visited the tomb of the unknown soldier and a delicate-looking monument to the victims of 1930s Soviet-era famine.