By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa held series of calls with European leaders on Saturday, over Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine and the ongoing efforts to achieve lasting peace.
The series of calls follows meetings hosted by US President Donald Trump with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders.
After an intensive week of diplomacy, in which Trump first met Putin in Alaska and then Zelensky with European leaders in Washington, the US president said the war was turning out to be the most difficult he had tried to stop.
Trump said after a call with the Russian leader on Monday that he had begun arrangements for a Putin-Zelensky summit that he would join afterwards.
In a statement, presidency said Ramaphosa spoke to Zelensky, President Emmanuel Macron of France and President Alexandar Stubb of Finland. Additional calls with other European leaders will follow in the coming days and weeks.
“In all the discussions European leaders openly shared their perspectives, appreciated South Africa’s role in engaging with both sides to the conflict and provided Ramaphosa with a firm commitment to supporting efforts aimed at ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, said presidency.
Macron said, “We had an in-depth discussion on major international crises, in particular the situation in the Middle East, the war of aggression waged by Russia against Ukraine in the context of Monday’s meeting in Washington, as well as the situation in the Great Lakes region.
A few months ahead of the G20 Summit, I reiterated my warmest wishes for success to South Africa. Together, we will work with the South African presidency of the G20 to chart a roadmap towards fairer and more inclusive global governance, notably in view of France’s presidency of the G7 in 2026, added Macron.
Stubb said, “Peace is in all our interests – wars have global impacts. South Africa’s voice matters. It is one of the key players in global security.
Ramaphosa also appreciated the briefing he received last week from Putin following his meeting with Trump, presidency said.
Ramaphosa stressed the urgency of holding bilateral and trilateral meetings between the leaders of Russia and Ukraine and the United States as key to signal a firm commitment to ending the warm.
In response, Zelensky reaffirmed his readiness for any format of meeting with Putin. However, he said that Moscow is once again trying to drag everything out even further. It is important that the Global South sends relevant signals and pushes Russia toward peace, he said.
Ramaphosa calls on all parties to seize this moment and sustain the momentum towards peace between Russia and Ukraine.
Despite latest efforts to broker a peace deal, Russia launched one of its heaviest attacks on Ukraine in weeks on Thursday, launching 574 drone and 40 missiles in one night.