Ukraine seeks to woo Africa and ‘Global South’ in push to challenge Russia

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy held talks with “Global South” leaders during an Arab League and a Group of Seven (G7) summits last week while the country’s foreign minister is on a tour of Africa this week, all aimed at broadening support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.
Zelenskyy held talks with India’s Narendra Modi and other “Global South” leaders at the 3-day G7 summit in the Japanese city of Hiroshima last weekend (19-21 May) that has already agreed new sanctions on Russia, drawing the ire of Moscow. The Ukrainian leader was flown to Hiroshima from the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah where he had attended an Arab League summit, seeking support for his country in the face of Russia’s invasion. Zelenskyy called on the Arab League to help protect ‘our people’ and the Ukrainian Muslim community amid Russia’s war on Ukraine, as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman expressed his readiness to mediate in the war between Moscow and Kyiv.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s top diplomat Dmytro Kuleba arrived in Morocco on Monday (22 May) as part of his second tour of Africa, stepping up wartime Kyiv’s diplomatic push to challenge Russian influence in the “Global South” and cement the vision laid out by Ukraine as the only path to peace. He said, in an Instagram post, that his tour around Africa aims to win support for the uninterrupted flow of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea and secure new openings for Ukrainian business. Political analysts say Kyiv is accelerating its push to court the “Global South” – a term meaning Latin America, Africa and much of Asia – to counter Russia’s strategy aimed at bolstering its relations with “Global South” powers during the war in Ukraine, including by selling more of its energy to India and China.