/ 28 October 2024

Ukraine ready for peace talks with Russia, foreign minister says

South African Minister Ronald Lamola Hosts Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha In Pretoria
South African Minister of International Relations and Co-operation, Ronald Lamola (R) and Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andrii Sybiha (L) during a media briefing after political consultations to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries on 28 October 2024 in Pretoria, South Africa. Minister Andrii Sybiha has been on a six-day tour of four countries in the Middle East and Africa. (Photo by Alet Pretorius/Gallo Images via Getty Images)

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, on Monday said his country was ready to hold peace talks with Russia but believed President Vladimir Putin still camped on his untenable demand for Ukrainian surrender.

“We are working towards a second global peace summit where we are ready to invite the representatives of Russia,” Sybiha told a media briefing after talks with his South African counterpart, Ronald Lamola, in Pretoria.

“We need South Africa to be there and add a strong voice.”

Sybiha said Kyiv was calling for South Africa’s help and that of the wider international community because Putin needed to be persuaded to abandon his insistence that the war could only end in Ukrainian capitulation.

“I remember very well the first proposals from Russia’s side with regard to how to achieve peace. It was not a proposal on how to achieve peace, it was an ultimatum. It was a proposal of capitulation. So of course we did not accept this proposal and logic,” he said.

“From my point of view, they have not changed the language of their proposal. They still insist on ultimatums. They don’t want to recognise our territorial integrity.

“They don’t even want to recognise us as an independent state and so they still speak about capitulation. That is not acceptable.”

Sybiha said therefore Ukraine needed support and solidarity in a peace process where its sovereignty and borders would be respected.

“That is why we need like-minded countries behind us. That is why we need support, the collective effort of like-minded countries who respect international law, which respect the UN Charter, the international war principles.

“When we have the position of like-minded countries, we are ready to invite Russia to the second global peace summit.”

No date or location has been set for a summit but Kyiv has previously suggested that it should take place in November.

World leaders met at a Swiss mountain resort over two days in mid-June to discuss proposals to end the war that began in February 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine. Russia was not invited to the summit.

The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, at the time said Putin was “not serious about ending the war” but insisting on Ukrainian concessions, including ceding territory not currently under Russian occupation.

South Africa did not sign the joint communique agreed by more than 90 nations, which endorsed the territorial integrity of Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.

Lamola said on Monday that South Africa continued to call on both sides to come to the negotiating table. 

“They cannot only meet on the battlefield,” he said. 

“We believe that it will be difficult to find peace, or that it will be impossible, without also their participation in the platform and we are glad that there is movement from my colleague.”

Lamola said President Cyril Ramaphosa made this point when he spoke with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in September.

“We continue to advocate that all the parties to the conflict should be around the table. We believe that all the points of contention can be engaged in that platform, the various issues of concern to both countries.”

It is reliably understood that though Ramaphosa had hoped to secure an undertaking from Putin last week when they met in Kazan for the Brics summit to engage directly with Zelenskiy.

But their conversation did not get to this point. 

A foreign affairs official said Russian officials had reached out to the South African delegation to inquire about plans to pursue the peace initiative launched by Ramaphosa and six other African leaders last year.

Representatives of the seven African nations, Ramaphosa among them, met Putin and Zelenskiy separately in 2023 and mooted proposals that included recognition of national sovereignty and unhindered grain exports to Africa.

Putin dismissed much of the 10-point plan put across by the African delegation, and Zelenskiy expressed only lukewarm support. 

On Monday Lamola said South Africa still believed that these proposals should remain part of any wider peace initiative.

Sybiha said he had shared Ukraine’s formula for how peace negotiations should unfold with Lamola and hoped South Africa would use its upcoming G20 presidency to further efforts to end the 30-month war.

“I thank South Africa for supporting the formula. We are currently finalising thematic conferences on each of 10 items and we are working towards a second global peace summit where we are ready to invite the representatives of Russia.

“We hope that South Africa’s G20 presidency will keep Ukraine in focus and help us bring just peace closer.”

He said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine violated international law, upended the world order and affected millions of people far from the front lines by triggered crises on food and energy.

“Today is the 978th day of Ukraine’s resistance to Russia’s full scale aggression. Russia continues its attacks and terror against civilians, infrastructure, ports and energy system. 

“This war is not only about Ukraine, it affects millions of people in Africa and other parts of the world. This is why we have a common goal — a comprehensive, just and long-lasting peace for Ukraine.”

Lamola and Sybiha were due to sign an agreement to waive visa requirements for Ukrainian holders of diplomatic, official, and service passports. The signing was delayed by a technicality but Lamola said the text was agreed and this would happen imminently.

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