Ramaphosa in talks on Russia-Ukraine peace plan

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa engaged with European leaders regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict on Saturday.

This is according to the Presidency, which announced that Ramaphosa had phone calls with the heads of state.

“President Ramaphosa spoke to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, President Emmanuel Macron of France and President Alexandar Stubb of Finland,” it said.

“Additional calls with other European leaders will follow in the coming days and weeks.”

These engagements follow meetings held by United States President Donald Trump with European leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The Presidency noted that Ramaphosa had received a briefing from Putin following the meeting, which the South African leader appreciated.

The phone calls revealed that European leaders valued South Africa’s stance in the conflict.

“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 to end the war between Russia and Ukraine,” said the Presidency.

“President Ramaphosa calls on all parties to seize this moment and sustain the momentum towards peace between Russia and Ukraine.”

Following Trump’s meeting, which took place in Anchorage, Alaska, Putin said he was satisfied with the emerging alignment on the peace process. Despite this, the summit failed to achieve a ceasefire.

As for Trump, he said that he called Putin and began arranging a meeting between Zelensky and Putin at a location to be confirmed. 

“After that meeting takes place, we will have a trilateral, which would be the two presidents, plus myself,” he said. 

Trump said at a press briefing following the meeting that the war’s end is imminent, as both Zelensky and Putin are on board to end the conflict. “We’re going to get it ended,” he said.

Despite Trump’s optimism, no concrete commitments were made at the latest meeting regarding a peace agreement, a ceasefire, or security guarantees from the US.