By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa, are due to hold talks on April 10 when Zelensky is expected in Pretoria, a spokesman for Ramaphosa said on Friday.
“The visit is a continuation of ongoing engagements held by President Ramaphosa with President Putin and President Zelenskiy on an inclusive process that will provide a path to peace between Russia and Ukraine,” Reuters quoted spokesman Vincent Magwenya as saying.
The visit comes at a time when Kyiv is shoring up international support following the freezing of military aid after an altercation with US President Donald Trump at the Oval Office.
South Africa projects itself as a non-aligned party in the three-year war in Ukraine but has failed to condemn Moscow’s invasion of Kyiv in 2022. It also failed to vote in the UN resolution on the war.
It shares membership in the BRICS bloc with Russia, a group of emerging economies that also includes China, India, Brazil, and others as members and partners.
In 2023, a United States ambassador in South Africa accused his host country of shipping arms to Russia in violation of its proclaimed neutrality.
Following a probe, no evidence linked a Russian ship to receiving weapons from a naval base near the South African city of Cape Town.
After a heated argument with Donald Trump in the White House last Friday, Washington announced its decision to halt military aid to Kyiv, accusing it of playing with World War III.
Trump and his Vice President, J.D. Vance, accused Zelensky of ingratitude for US support since 2022 when the war started, but the EU has pledged to stand by Kyiv.
Trump has stepped up efforts to end the war and improve US relations with Russia. However, a peace talk in Saudi Arabia without Ukrainian representation has raised suspicion among EU leaders.
