As a member of a group of African Heads of state and Government, looking for solutions to end Kiev’s 15-month war with Russia, the South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, arrived in Ukraine to hold talks with his Ukrainian counterpart.
According to Ramaphosa’s press office, he was welcomed by a Ukrainian special representative and the South African ambassador at a rail station close to Bucha.
The visit to Bucha was noteworthy because, since Russian forces invaded Ukraine in full force in February 2022, the name of that city has come to represent for the brutality of Moscow’s administration. During the horrific Russian occupation of Bucha, graveyards were dug up and streets were filled with hundreds of dead inhabitants.
Senior officials from Zambia, Senegal, Uganda, Egypt, the Republic of Congo, and the Comoro Islands are also part of the African delegation. Last month, Ramaphosa indicated that, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had both consented to separate talks with the group.
According to diplomats who assisted in the preparation for the discussions, the African leaders delight to start the peace negotiations, as well as determine how to pay Russia for the fertilizer supplies that Africa so sorely needs, however global sanctions have made it difficult to pay Russia for its fertilizer supplies.
They would also be discussing about how to ensure that, more food exports are made out of Ukraine despite the conflict and see to it, if additional prisoner swaps would be possible.
However, the African peace offer comes as Ukraine begins a counteroffensive to drive Russian soldiers out of their captured territory, employing sophisticated weapons provided by the West in attacks along the front line’s 1,000 km length. Analysts and military officials from the West, have issued warnings that, the campaign might drag on for a while.
Since the invasion began in February 2022, with an already depressing economies, African countries have been one of the most affected in the world. With Ukraine known as the bread basket of the world, and Russia’s major fertilizer productions, prices of grains across the world began to increase, same as fertilizers.
Moreover, as the warring parties don’t seem any closer to agreeing to a cease-fire, China has also been working on a peace proposal, but the deal have little prospect of success. The spokesperson for Ukraine’s General Staff reported that, Ukrainian troops had achieved victory along three portions of the front line in the country’s south and east.
Andriy Kovalev claimed that, Ukrainian forces have advanced through the town of Orikhiv in the Zaporizhzhia area, along the route of the hamlet of Robotyne, as well as, in the vicinity of Levadne and Staromaiorske, which are located on the borders between Zaporizhzhia and the farther-eastern Donetsk region.
The Donetsk mining town of Vuhledar, which was the scene of the war’s most significant tank warfare so far, has seen some advance by Ukrainian troops, according to Kovalev.
In the southern Kherson region, two citizens were murdered and two others were injured by Russian bombardment on Thursday and overnight, according to Oleksandr Prokudin, the region’s governor.
According to Prokudin, Russian forces carried out 54 attacks across the region the day before using mortars, artillery, multiple rocket launchers, drones, missiles, and planes. According to local governor Pavlo Kyrylenko, ten individuals were injured within that same time period in the eastern Donetsk region.
