Johannesburg: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa held a telephone conversation with European leaders to discuss the Russia-Ukraine peace efforts, according to the Presidency.
This follows meetings hosted by US President Donald Trump with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and several other European leaders.
The Presidency said Ramaphosa has spoken to Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Xinhua News Agency reported.
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,” he said.
European leaders and Ukraine’s Zelensky met US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday following his meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska last week. European leaders who met Trump included UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Finnish President Stubb and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
Last week, Putin and Trump held talks at the Arctic Warrior Convention Centre in Alaska. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US President’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff also participated in the meeting. Both leaders said that they made progress in three hours of talks, moving closer to finding an end to the Ukraine War, but did not announce an immediate ceasefire.
