Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly is undertaking a European tour next week to hold talks with senior officials in countries allied with Canada regarding the next steps in response to the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, as well as continuing support for the large numbers of Ukrainians who fled their country due to the war.

Minister Joly begins her tour in the Finnish capital Helsinki, where she will meet on Monday with her counterpart Pekka Haavisto.

The second stop for the Canadian Foreign Minister will be the German capital Berlin, where she will participate in a donor conference on supporting Moldova, neighboring Ukraine, which is considered one of the poorest countries in Europe.

In Berlin, the Canadian Foreign Minister will exchange views with Canada's partners on "how to effectively support Moldova, confront Russian disinformation, and assist refugees forced to leave Ukraine due to President (Russian Vladimir) Putin's illegal war," according to a statement from Global Affairs Canada.

According to a statement issued at the end of March by the German Foreign Ministry announcing the holding of the conference, Moldova is the country that has received the largest influx of refugees relative to its population since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

This small country with a population of about 2.6 million located south of Ukraine has received, according to figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, about 392,000 displaced persons from Ukraine. Encouraged by the European Union Commission, most of them have left to EU member countries, especially Romania.

Like Ukraine, Moldova is one of the former Soviet republics and is not a member of the European Union nor the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

The third and final stop for Minister Joly will be Brussels where "she will participate in meetings of foreign ministers of the G7 countries and NATO and discuss with them continuing coordination efforts to enhance regional security in Eastern Europe," according to the statement from Global Affairs Canada.

Minister Joly had earlier stated this week that Canada is preparing to impose new sanctions on Russia.

"We will continue to apply tremendous pressure on the Russian regime. We must not stop because we see that the battles continue," Joly said on Wednesday after continued Russian shelling of Ukrainian cities despite Russian-Ukrainian talks in Turkey.