President Cyril Ramaphosa says the United States and South Africa “are united” in their objectives to seek peace between Russia and Ukraine.
He believes that Pretoria and Washington can find common ground on the issue of ending the ongoing war in Ukraine. This comes as diplomatic ties between the US and SA have slumped to an all-time low since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, with the US expelling SA’s ambassador at the weekend.
Ramaphosa was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an early childhood development event in Braamfontein, Johannesburg on Monday.
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Earlier this month, Ramaphosa’s office confirmed that Zelensky would visit South Africa on 10 April.
Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, said the visit was a continuation of ongoing engagements between Ramaphosa, Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin on an “inclusive peace process”.
Ukraine has long awaited an invitation for a state visit from Pretoria.
On Monday, Ramaphosa said: “President Zelensky’s due to come to South Africa soon, and we’re looking forward to welcoming him. Our objective in bringing President Zelensky here, or responding to his request that he should come, is that we want to enforce the message of peace — we want to advance that objective.
“The only way to resolve the Ukraine/Russia conflict is through peaceful means and through peaceful negotiation.”
Ramaphosa said he believed that Trump was giving Zelensky the same message.
“That is the message that we will be passing on to President Zelensky, and we do believe that that is precisely the same message that President Trump and the United States have also been passing on to President Zelensky, so in this we are united, we have the same objective,” he said.
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We look forward to welcoming President @ZelenskyyUa on his upcoming visit to South Africa and we will be advancing a message of peace. pic.twitter.com/GZZarW0wNG
— Cyril Ramaphosa ?? (@CyrilRamaphosa) March 17, 2025
Ramaphosa’s comments come after Trump said he would speak to Putin on Tuesday, 18 March, about the US-backed proposal for a 30-day ceasefire with Ukraine.
Trump is trying to win Putin’s support for the ceasefire proposal that Zelensky accepted last week, as both sides continued intense airstrikes over the weekend, and Russia advanced in pushing Ukrainian forces out of the western Russian region of Kursk, according to a Reuters report.
Russia’s war against Ukraine was also discussed at the 8th South Africa-European Union (EU) summit in Cape Town last week.
At a press conference following the summit, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, who headed the EU delegation along with EU council president António Costa, said the leaders exchanged views on how to get, not only a ceasefire, but a “true peace agreement” for Ukraine.
“We had a very good discussion indeed about where we can, together, contribute to the whole topic of pushing forward the peace process. No one wants peace more than the people of Ukraine. No one deserves peace more than the people of Ukraine. And, therefore, it was also a topic among us here at the summit,” said Von der Leyen.
Read more: SA and EU to embrace at summit after both suffer Trump abuse
At the same press conference, Ramaphosa said SA continued to send the same message for a peaceful resolution to the conflict to Putin.
“Whereas in the past we have been branded as being one-sided, our involvement in all this has proven and demonstrated that we are neutral and we have been encouraging both Ukraine and Russia to find a peaceful solution, and we will continue to do so,” he said. DM