The scene at a residential building in Kostiantynivka, Ukraine, last week after a Russian airstrike.Alex Babenko/The Associated Press

Dr. Andrew Furey was the 14th premier of Newfoundland and Labrador.

This past weekend, I found myself walking in the middle of the night, in the rain, to a hidden train station with former prime minister Jean Chrétien and former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland. It was a scene that could have been lifted from a Cold War novel, but it was real. How did I get here?

This is Ukraine in 2025, a country fighting for its very survival and for the principles that underpin the democratic world. I am in Kyiv to attend the Yalta European Strategy meeting, which was held under strict secrecy amid occasional air raid sirens. We had gathered to hear from world leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky and Defence Minister Denys Shmyhal, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and retired U.S. general Keith Kellogg,........

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