Zelensky leans on Ramaphosa to crack invite to G20 summit in Brazil

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva holds a press conference during the General Debate of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations Headquarters in New York, New York, USA, 25 September 2024. The annual high-level General Debate gathers world leaders from 24 to 28 September, and 30 September under the theme, 'Leaving no one behind: acting together for the advancement of peace, sustainable development and human dignity for present and future generations.' (Photo: EPA-EFE / STEPHANI SPINDEL)

By Peter Fabricius

16 Oct 2024

And Ukraine would like South Africa to play a stronger role in peace talks, according to the head of Zelensky’s office, particularly on the urgent plight of children illegally deported by Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is hoping that President Cyril Ramaphosa will persuade Brazilian President Lula da Silva to invite Zelensky to the G20 summit in Brazil next month for a broader discussion on how to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The head of Zelensky’s office, Andriy Yermak, told South African journalists on Tuesday that Ukraine was very open to a discussion which would incorporate peace initiatives which had been presented by Ramaphosa and by China and Brazil, and would include more countries like Saudi Arabia.

And he said Zelensky thought the right platform for that discussion would be the summit of G20 leaders in Brazil in November. “And it will be very good if there will be very strong messages from South Africa, from your leaders, to President Lula, because we’re still waiting for the invitation from Brazil to participate in these G20 meetings. And it will be a very good opportunity to start this discussion.”

Yermak also said in an online briefing that Ukraine and South Africa had decided that Zelensky would visit South Africa. No date had been decided but he hoped it would happen “very soon”.

“I’m absolutely sure that this visit will open a new page in our relationship,” he added.

He said South Africa was “a big and influential democracy” which had “big influence” over Russia. “Russia depends on you,” he added, suggesting this help was needed to salvage Russia’s reputation. He noted that South Africa was already playing an important role in the peace process, including through Ramaphosa’s visits to Ukraine and Russia in 2023 at the head of a delegation of African leaders which presented Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin with their peace plan, and Pretoria’s participation in Zelensky’s peace formula talks since July 2023.

Read more: War in Ukraine

Yermak said on the margins of the UN General Assembly last month that Ramaphosa and Zelensky had had “very important and useful discussions in New York; very deep, very honest as a real friend”, including about the possible next steps for the peace process.

But he added that it was now necessary for South Africa to act more strongly because every hour and every day was costing Ukraine. “We are in really very difficult circumstances.”

And even just considering the plight of the “dozens of thousands” of Ukrainian children Russia had abducted and deported, time was important, he suggested, because Russia was trying to destroy their memories and any connections with their parents and with Ukraine.

Zelensky Ukraine Yermak Head of the office of Ukraine’s president, Andriy Yermak, speaks during the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on 14 May 2024. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Ida Marie Odgaard)

Yermak said South Africa could continue to play an important role in the peace process, particularly on humanitarian issues which were an important part of the process. He noted that this was a priority for Ramaphosa who had spoken about it often, including at the United Nations.

And for Ukraine the most important humanitarian issue was the children whom Russia had illegally deported from the Ukrainian territory it had occupied.

Yermak said Ukraine had estimated so far that about 20,000 Ukrainian children had been abducted, while Russia itself was talking about up to 700,000. He explained this anomaly by saying that at the start of the war Russia appeared to be boasting about the numbers of children it had taken to show how strong it was before it realised the issue was controversial and stopped talking about it.

Read more: Ukraine Crisis Archives

Yermak added that Ukraine, with the help of international partners, was trying to establish more accurate data on the number of children abducted, which it would present at the end of October at a conference in Canada on the humanitarian aspects of Zelensky’s peace formula.

“This is one of the most tragic challenges our nation is facing… Thousands and thousands of Ukrainian kids were stolen by Russia.

“The terrorist state does not provide any information about the locations of our children to any international organisation or nations. What our children go through in Russia is horrible.

“The global security system has not been effective. There are no real solutions to stop Russia’s aggressions, prevent the abductions of Ukrainian children or ensure their return. That’s why we need new approaches that work.

“To address this, the president of Ukraine launched the international initiative, Bring Kids Back UA.” This task force was a global effort involving other governments, international organisations and civil society to get the Ukrainian children home.

The task force had asked top international lawyers to investigate Russia’s transfer of the children to Russia and their report had shown that the systematic deportation of the children violated international law. It recommended that Russia should be required to provide international organisations access to all data on Ukrainian children on Russian territory, and to grant international missions access to facilities in Russia and the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories where Ukrainian children are being held.

Brazil's President Lula da Silva holds a press conference during the General Debate of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly in New York on 25 September 2024. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Stephani Spindel)

The report also called for support for Ukrainian humanitarian efforts to rescue the children from deportation and forced displacement, and to provide reintegration services for returning children.

“Together we can save thousands of young lives,” he added. Yermak said Ukraine greatly appreciated the participation of some South African experts in the preparation of the legal recommendations.

Dzvinka Kachur of the Ukrainian Association of South Africa told the briefing that South African and Ukrainian civil society had together written a policy brief that addressed governments of African states specifically about returning deported Ukrainian children “because we believe that it will help not only to return Ukrainian children but also to help children in DRC in the Sudan and in many other conflict areas”.

She asked Yermak whether the Ukrainian government had invited Ramaphosa and the South African government to join the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children.

Yermak said Ukraine had invited Ramaphosa and South Africa to join the coalition and that they were considering the invitation “very positively”. Ukraine expected them to join as soon as possible.

But the most active involvement of South Africa in the broader peace process would be significant and important, he said. Yermak stressed that by peace he did not mean merely freezing the conflict, but really ending it with a just and sustainable peace based on international law and the UN Charter.

Read more: Children and books — regular war targets of Russian aggression

He was evidently saying Ukraine was not ready for the sort of peace deal which many are now pressing it to accept, which would allow Russia to keep the 20% or more of Ukrainian territory it now occupies. Moscow should return all of Ukraine’s territory, he suggested.

“We want only what belonged to us, according to international law,” Yermak said. “We don’t pretend to any centimetres of Russian lands.”

Yermak expressed great appreciation to Ramaphosa’s national security adviser, Sydney Mufamadi, who he said had participated in practically all the meetings of national security advisers from many nations, which Yermak himself had chaired over the past year to discuss Zelensky’s 10-point peace formula.

Russia has not been involved in those talks so far but Yermak said it had been necessary to first prepare a peace plan to put on the table when Russia did join talks with Ukraine to negotiate peace. DM

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