By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba is set to embark on a three-nation visit to Africa this week in an effort to drum up support for Kyiv in its war with Russia, his ministry said on Sunday.
“All meetings will focus on the development of bilateral relations based on mutual respect and interests. Among the key topics will be the participation of African states in global efforts to restore a just peace for Ukraine and the world,” the ministry said.
Heritage Times HT recalls that this is Kuleba’s fourth diplomatic tour to Africa in the last two years.
The diplomat is expected to visit Malawi, Zambia and Mauritius on August 4-8.
A number of African countries took part in a conference on Ukraine hosted by Switzerland in June, but they have mostly been reluctant to join Western efforts to isolate Russia, in response to the war between Moscow and Kyiv.
Russia is a key supplier of energy and commodities.
The foreign ministry also said Kuleba would during his tour discuss the supply of Ukrainian grain to the region and the participation of African companies in the reconstruction of Ukraine.
Heritage Times HT reports that on Sunday, Russia said its armed forces seized the village of Novoselivka Persha in eastern Ukraine.
The settlement, which had a population of less than a thousand people before the war, lies in the Donetsk region, about 20 kilometers northwest of Avdiivka, which Russia seized in February.
Meanwhile, Former US President Donald Trump has praised the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin on a major prisoner exchange between Russia, Belarus and several Western states.
“I’d like to congratulate Vladimir Putin for having made yet another great deal,” the Republican presidential candidate said at a campaign event in Atlanta, in the US state of Georgia.
