{"id":17706,"date":"2025-07-23T10:07:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T10:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/17706\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T10:07:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T10:07:14","slug":"in-kyiv-canadas-ambassador-shows-solidarity-by-standing-firm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/17706\/","title":{"rendered":"In Kyiv, Canada\u2019s ambassador shows solidarity by standing firm"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Natalka Cmoc, ambassador of Canada to Ukraine, says she finds it important to stay. ‘We consider ourselves witnesses,’ she told The Globe and Mail.Olga Ivashchenko\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

In most of the world, being the Canadian ambassador means an endless stream of formal parties, marked by speeches about the potential for an expanded trading relationship with the host country.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not a life that Natalka Cmoc recognizes. On too many mornings, her job as Canada\u2019s ambassador to Ukraine begins with the predawn scream of air-raid sirens over the city.<\/p>\n

As soon as that happens, Ms. Cmoc looks at her phone, which is already receiving a barrage of information about the number of Russian missiles and drones headed toward Kyiv. She then joins a Signal chat with other members of the embassy staff, and a quick decision is made about whether the diplomats can wait out this attack in the safe rooms of their apartments, or whether it\u2019s one of those nights that will have to be spent in an underground shelter.<\/p>\n

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When the all-clear signal is given, it\u2019s time to get on with the business of representing Canada in wartime Kyiv.Olga Ivashchenko\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Ms. Cmoc\u2019s own \u201csafe room\u201d is the windowless corridor outside her bedroom, where a small cot waits, always made-up, beneath a wall map of Ukraine. A nearby closet is packed with water bottles, a headlamp and her bulletproof vest. A walkie-talkie and another flashlight sit charging on the floor. If they keep such gear at other Canadian embassies abroad, the ambassador certainly doesn\u2019t have to sleep within reach of it.<\/p>\n

The threat from above is real. The building next to the residence of one staff member, a local hire, was struck in a June 17 assault when Russia launched more than 400 missiles and drones at Kyiv, killing 30 people and injuring 172 others. Five days later, the cousin of a different embassy staff member was left homeless by another massive attack that left 10 people dead in the capital. <\/p>\n

Toy guns, remote school, emptied towns \u2013 childhood near Ukraine’s frontlines is anything but normal<\/a><\/p>\n

When explosions end, and the all-clear signal is given, it\u2019s time to get on with the regular business of representing Canada in wartime Kyiv, which is often about showing Ukrainians that Canada still stands with them, three years and five months after the full-scale Russian invasion began. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy number one concern for the team is sleep deprivation. I\u2019m worried about that. What else can I say? We live here like everyone else, right?\u201d Ms. Cmoc said in an interview at her official residence in the Ukrainian capital. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that the strikes are louder, scarier and more will get through the air defence,\u201d she said, referring to how Russia has been increasing the size and frequency of its air attacks in recent weeks, just as Ukraine is running low on the U.S.-supplied Patriot air defence missiles that help guard the skies over Kyiv and other cities.<\/p>\n

Ms. Cmoc, a fluent Ukrainian speaker, served in the embassy as counsellor for technical co-operation between 2011 and 2013 before returning to Ottawa, where she worked as a senior civil servant. Despite the physical and emotional grind, she has put her hand up to stay on for a third year in Kyiv, opening the door to further prolonging a stint that began in August, 2023.<\/p>\n

While a third year in Kyiv would mean a third year of living apart from her husband, as well as their two grown children \u2013 Canadian government policy forbids diplomats from bringing their family with them to an active war zone, a policy that also applies to Iraq, Haiti, Mali and South Sudan \u2013 the 55-year-old Ms. Cmoc says her family supports her decision to remain.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it\u2019s important to stay. We consider ourselves witnesses. I can tell somebody what\u2019s happening in Kyiv, because I\u2019m in Kyiv. I also think it\u2019s incredibly important for solidarity,\u201d she said, adding that she also believes that the presence of Western ambassadors in Kyiv serves as a deterrent against even worse Russian attacks on the capital.<\/p>\n

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Despite the physical and emotional grind, Ms. Cmoc has put her hand up to stay on for a third year in Kyiv.Olga Ivashchenko\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Along with other Western ambassadors in Kyiv, Ms. Cmoc has been stretching the boundaries and potential of public diplomacy. In the wake of some of the worst strikes, Ms. Cmoc has gone to the scene afterward, using social media to show the impact of the deadly Russian attacks. She has also become known in Ukraine for promoting LGBTQ rights \u2013 a photograph of her wearing a rainbow-themed version of the traditional Ukrainian vyshyvanka shirt garnered thousands of likes online \u2013 as well as the role that women have played in wartime. <\/p>\n

She has the symbol of Zla Mavka, an all-women\u2019s resistance group working behind the front lines in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine, tattooed on her left forearm. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I signed up, Minister Joly said to me at the time, \u2018I hope you\u2019re comfortable doing interviews, social media and public speaking.\u2019 So, I took that as my marching orders. Be visible,\u201d Ms. Cmoc said, referring to then-foreign affairs minister M\u00e9lanie Joly.<\/p>\n

Zelensky proposes renewed peace talks with Putin as Russia strikes three Ukrainian cities<\/a><\/p>\n

The one topic Ms. Cmoc \u2013 like most Western politicians and diplomats \u2013 is careful to avoid is U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a>, who has set the war for Ukraine<\/a> on a more difficult course since returning to office in January. First, Mr. Trump pushed Ukraine to make peace on terms viewed as largely favourable to Russia. More recently, Mr. Trump appears to have lost interest in the conflict.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a disinterest that works in Russia\u2019s favour. Mr. Trump has been slow to introduce new sanctions targeting Moscow, and his administration has effectively delayed the supply of U.S. weapons to Ukraine just as Russia is stepping up its attacks.<\/p>\n

The closest Ms. Cmoc has come to giving her opinion on the new U.S. administration was an April 11 photograph she posted on LinkedIn and X, showing her standing alongside then-U.S. ambassador Bridget Brink in front of a destroyed apartment block in the city of Kryvyi Rih. The building had been hit by a Russian ballistic missile a week earlier, killing 20 people, including nine children.<\/p>\n

Opinion: Wars in Ukraine and the Middle East reveal how unready Canada is<\/a><\/p>\n

Ms. Brink had come under harsh criticism in Ukrainian media for issuing a statement about the attack that didn\u2019t use the word \u201cRussia.\u201d In line with the Trump administration\u2019s policies, she wrote only that the deadly attack showed \u201cwhy this war must end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Brink announced her intention to resign as ambassador on April 10 \u2013 the day before she and Ms. Cmoc travelled to Kryvyi Rih \u2013 and has since become a loud critic of Mr. Trump\u2019s policies toward Russia and Ukraine, while running for Congress as a Democrat in her home state of Michigan. <\/p>\n

Ms. Cmoc says there\u2019s nothing to read into the photograph other than what it shows: two ambassadors trying to raise awareness about another devastating Russian attack on Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy picture was a woman ambassador to a woman ambassador in solidarity,\u201d she said, before a brief pause that suggested she was carefully choosing her next words. \u201cI know she believes in Ukraine, and I believe she did everything she could.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Natalka Cmoc, ambassador of Canada to Ukraine, says she finds it important to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-17706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}