Ukraine and Russia to separately host ‘African leaders peace mission’

The leaders of six African countries will visit Russia and Ukraine and meet with Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky in their attempt to bring an end to the war in Ukraine.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the “African leaders peace mission” on Tuesday and said he’d be joined by the leaders of Egypt, Zambia, Senegal, Uganda, and the Republic of the Congo.

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“Principal to our discussions are efforts to find a peaceful resolution to the devastating conflict in the Ukraine,” Ramaphosa said, though he did not specify a time frame for the talks. He said only that Zelensky and Putin authorized them to begin “preparations.”

Director General of South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation Zane Dangor said they will be visiting the Russian and Ukrainian capitals “in early June,” according to Russian state media source Tass, while Ukrainian presidential spokesman Sergey Nikiforov said, “The Ukrainian president has welcomed such a peace initiative. Volodymyr Zelensky is ready to receive distinguished guests in Ukraine and to listen to their proposals.”

National Security Council coordinator John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday that the United States would “support any third-party peace proposal as long as it can be seen as credible, enforceable, and sustainable,” and Ukrainian leaders “have to be 100 percent behind it.”

The White House has dismissed previous proposals from various countries that Ukraine wouldn’t support.

Egypt and Zambia voted in favor of a measure to condemn Russia’s war in Ukraine, while South Africa, Senegal, Uganda, and the Republic of the Congo abstained from it.

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Last week, Ambassador Rueben Brigety, the lead U.S. envoy in South Africa, accused South Africa of providing a shipment of weapons to Russia. The transfer allegedly occurred between Dec. 6 and Dec. 8, when a sanctioned Russian cargo ship docked at Simon’s Town Naval Base, near Cape Town.

“The arming of the Russians is extremely serious, and we do not consider this issue to be resolved,” Brigety added, per a recording obtained by Bloomberg. “This is an issue of the political orientation of the ruling party of the country and what it means, as the party that is responsible for deploying senior government officials into the government of South Africa.”