S. African president engages with European leaders on Russia-Ukraine peace talks

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa held a telephone conversation with European leaders on August 23 to discuss the Russia-Ukraine peace efforts.

Ramaphosa has spoken to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, as confirmed by the South African presidency's office, Caliber.Az reports,

This follows meetings hosted by US President Donald Trump, including with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, as well as Zelenskyy, where he was joined by several other European leaders.

According to their statement, Ramaphosa appreciated the briefing he received last week from Putin following his meeting with Trump.

"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 President Ramaphosa with a firm commitment to supporting efforts aimed at ending the war between Russia and Ukraine," said Vincent Magwenya, spokesperson to the president.

Magwenya said Ramaphosa will speak with other European leaders in the coming days and that the president has urged all parties to sustain the momentum in working toward peace between Ukraine and Russia.

"President Ramaphosa stressed the urgency of holding bilateral and trilateral meetings between the leaders of Russia and Ukraine and the United States as key to signalling a firm commitment to ending the war," Magwenya noted.

By Nazrin Sadigova