Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelenskyy speaks to the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Dick Schoof. (Photo: @ZelenskyyUa/X)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due in South Africa for a state visit on 10 April, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office confirmed on Thursday.
“President Zelenskyy will be visiting South Africa on the 10th of April,” his spokesman Vincent Magwenya told the Mail & Guardian.
“The visit is a continuation of ongoing engagements held by President Ramaphosa with President Putin and President Zelenskyy on an inclusive peace process that will provide a path to peace between Russia and Ukraine.”
Ramaphosa extended the invitation in mid-January.
Confirmation of the date came as European leaders gathered in Brussels to discuss how to support Ukraine, a day after the US suspended vital military aid to the country.
That decision followed a disastrous meeting between the US president Donald Trump and Zelenskyy at the White House last Friday.
Trump has tried to press Zelenskyy into a hurried peace deal with Russia, while the Ukrainian leader demanded security guarantees before agreeing to a ceasefire in the three-year-old conflict devastating his country.
A fortnight ago, Washington started negotiations with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia but excluded Ukraine from the talks.
Ramaphosa’s office has pleaded for inclusive negotiations to end the war, which began on 24 February 2022 when Russian President Vladimir Putin sent tanks into Ukraine.
South Africa has pointedly insisted that all parties must be included in peace talks.
“No peace can hold unless all parties are involved and they have to be involved equally in the process. That is the only way in which you can resolve a conflict in a manner that is long-lasting,” Magwenya said.
He said where Ramaphosa could help to facilitate negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv, he would be “more than happy to do so”.
“But what we will not do, as South Africa, is to start dictating the terms,” he added.
Trump falsely claimed Ukraine had started the war and suggested it might have to concede territory to Russia, before suspending aid in what appears to be part of a dramatic foreign policy pivot towards restoring ties with Moscow.
Source:
mg.co.za
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