{"id":818440,"date":"2026-07-22T11:05:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T11:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/818440\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T11:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T11:05:08","slug":"were-learning-from-the-evolving-war-departing-canadian-ambassador-to-ukraine-reflects-on-time-in-kyiv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/818440\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We\u2019re learning from the evolving war\u2019: Departing Canadian ambassador to Ukraine reflects on time in Kyiv"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Natalka Cmoc says after three years, she’s ready to pass the baton to the new ambassador.Olga Ivashchenko\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

From her office in Kyiv, outgoing Canadian Ambassador Natalka Cmoc reflected on all the changes she\u2019s seen since her arrival three years ago: the intensifying Russian attacks, the evolution of Ukraine\u2019s<\/a> relationship with Canada.<\/p>\n

Her posting to Ukraine will end Wednesday. She will be replaced by Tamara Mawhinney, a diplomat who most recently served as Canada\u2019s ambassador to South Korea. <\/p>\n

Ms. Cmoc is proud of Canada\u2019s support for Ukraine before and during her tenure, pointing out that Ottawa has committed $25.5-billion to Kyiv to date. In addition to financial and military aid, Canada has advocated for the return of Ukrainian children, civilians and prisoners of war held in Russia, often working in partnership with Ukrainian organizations. She says Canada is no longer just a donor and now works with Ukrainian industry, particularly on defence initiatives. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re learning from the evolving war,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

She noted that the fact Ukraine agreed to be a founding member of the Canadian-led Defence, Security and Resilience Bank is also promising. And there are other initiatives. The Globe and Mail reported in May that a Canadian company, Sentinel, is working with a Ukrainian company, Airlogix, to make drones in Canada that will be used in Ukraine. <\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s Sentinel to build drones for Ukraine through joint venture<\/a><\/p>\n

At the same time, Ms. Cmoc has experienced an escalation of Russian attacks on the capital. Saturday night was fresh in her mind. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia launched more than 40 missiles at the country \u2013 most of them targeting Kyiv \u2013 along with 120 drones. The death toll from such attacks generally remains low only because people quickly seek safety in shelters, Ms. Cmoc said. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut in terms of destruction, unnecessary destruction has intensified since I\u2019ve been here. It\u2019s shocking how many maternity hospitals have been hit. Shocking how many cultural places are hit,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Despite all that, the Ukrainian people remain determined. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I\u2019m trying not to use the word \u2018resilient\u2019 because I know that there\u2019s a tiredness of that,\u201d but \u201cit\u2019s difficult not to use that word because they\u2019re amazing.\u201d <\/p>\n

There\u2019s still no sense of when the war might end. (The interview took place before Mr. Zelensky fired his top general Tuesday and replaced him after large protests in Kyiv.) Ms. Cmoc said she\u2019s heard talk of a year or two. But one thing is certain: Ukrainians are not prepared to give up the territories under Russian occupation.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanada supports that view. We don\u2019t believe that borders can be changed by force. We have been very strong supporters and friends of Ukraine in making clear that we are supporting their state sovereignty, their territorial integrity \u2212 that has not changed at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zelensky names replacement military chief after mass protests in Ukraine<\/a><\/p>\n

She said Ukraine\u2019s neighbours often speak about the threat of Russia and recall the history of the Soviet Union. \u201cIt is something that is strongly linked to memory and feels very threatening to them,\u201d she said, adding that Canada clearly recognizes the threat Russia poses. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe may not have a land border [with Russia], but the Arctic is between our two countries. So I know we\u2019re very cognizant.\u201d That\u2019s why Canada has developed strong relationships with Nordic countries, she added. <\/p>\n

\u201cCanada\u2019s not naive and understands what the threat is,\u201d she said. \u201cOur government is focused on strengthening coalitions and alliances for exactly those reasons.\u201d <\/p>\n

Leaving Ukraine brings a lot of mixed emotions, she said. She worked there in the 1990s, implementing Canadian projects and later serving as counsellor for technical co-operation at the embassy from 2011 to 2013. She was also part of the Canadian government\u2019s reconstruction task force after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, responsible for security programming. And she also happens to have Ukrainian roots and speaks the language. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very excited to be reunited with my husband. On the other hand, it\u2019s very difficult to leave Ukraine. But I am ready to pass the baton to the new ambassador.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Natalka Cmoc says after three years, she’s ready to pass the baton to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":818441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44,1008],"class_list":["post-818440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news","tag-pleasemod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818440","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=818440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/818441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=818440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=818440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=818440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}