Canada's prime minister will travel to Ukraine on Saturday to attend the swearing-in of the country's new president.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he will attend the swearing-in of Ukrainian president-elect Petro Poroshenko to show Canada's support of Ukraine quest for prosperity and stability.
Harper criticised says Ukrainians deserve a government that can defend it from outside threats.
The prime minister has labelled Russian President Vladimir Putin a threat to world peace after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula, and for instigating the continuing unrest in eastern Ukraine.
Harper is on the first leg of a European tour that includes the 70th anniversary ceremonies of the Normandy invasion in France.
Canada is home to more than 1 million people of Ukrainian descent.
