Volodymyr Zelenskiy - The African Mirror

Mar

2024

Ukraine rebuffs Pope Francis calling for talks with Russia

UKRAINE rebuffed Pope Francis's call to negotiate an end to the war with Russia, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy saying the pontiff was engaging in "virtual mediation" and his foreign minister saying Kyiv would never capitulate. Francis said that when things were going badly for a party to a conflict one had to show the "courage of the white flag" and negotiate. The pope's interview was believed to be the first time Francis has used terms like "white flag" or "defeated" in discussing the Ukraine war, though he has referred in the past to the need for talks. Zelenskiy made no direct reference to…

Mar

2024

By PHILIP PULLELLA

Pope says Ukraine should have ‘courage of the white flag’ of negotiations

WORLD

POPE Francis has said in an interview that Ukraine should have what he called the courage of the "white flag" and negotiate an end to the war with Russia that followed Moscow's full-scale invasion two years ago and that has killed tens of thousands. Francis made his comments in an interview recorded last month with Swiss broadcaster RSI, well before Friday's latest offer by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to host a summit between Ukraine and Russia to end the war. Erdogan made the fresh offer after a meeting in Istanbul with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Zelenskiy has said while he wants peace he…

Feb

2024

By OLENA HARMASH and ANGELO AMANTE

Western leaders in Kyiv pledge support for Ukraine on war anniversary

WORLD

THE prime ministers of Italy and Canada signed security deals with Ukraine as Western leaders rallied around a war-weary Kyiv on the second anniversary of Russia's military invasion, with no end in sight to the fighting. After initial successes in pushing back the Russian army, Ukraine has suffered recent setbacks on the eastern battlefields, with its generals complaining of growing shortages of both arms and soldiers. Looking to dispel concerns the West is losing interest in the conflict, Italy's Giorgia Meloni and Canada's Justin Trudeau came to Kyiv early on Saturday with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander…

Jan

2024

By The African Mirror

Putin says Ukraine’s statehood at risk if pattern of war continues

WORLD

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin said that Ukraine's statehood could suffer an "irreparable blow" if the pattern of the war continued, and Russia would never be forced to abandon the gains it had made. Putin made his televised comments a day after Switzerland agreed to host a global summit at the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Putin dismissed "so-called peace formulas" being discussed in the West and Ukraine and what he called the "prohibitive demands" they entailed. "Well, if they don't want (to negotiate), then don't!" he said. "Now it is quite obvious, not only (Ukraine's) counter-offensive failed, but the…

Sep

2023

By GWLADYS FOUCHE and ILZE FILKS

Nobel Peace Prize: Indigenous, women or green activists could win 2023 award

WORLD

UKRAINIAN President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russian dissident Alexei Navalny are among favourites for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, but experts say campaigners for women, Indigenous peoples or the environment could well steal the stage. Given past form, the Norwegian Nobel Committee is also capable of a complete surprise in the October 6 announcement. Though bookmakers have Zelenskiy as a top candidate to join the illustrious list of laureates from Nelson Mandela to Martin Luther King, Nobel specialists believe that as a wartime leader, the Ukrainian president is unlikely to be named. The imprisoned Navalny's chances are lessened because Russian dissidents won last…

Jul

2023

By The African Mirror

Russian, Turkish ministers talk after Turkey sends Ukrainian commanders home

WORLD

THE foreign ministers of Russia and Turkey spoke by telephone, a day after Ankara angered Moscow by sending five Ukrainian commanders home with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in what Russia called a violation of a prisoner exchange agreement. The Russian and Turkish foreign ministries said Sergei Lavrov and Hakan Fidan discussed the situation in Ukraine, as well as a Black Sea grain export agreement that lifted a Russian de facto blockade of Ukrainian ports last year. Moscow has threatened to quit the grain export deal when it comes up for renewal on July 17, saying demands to facilitate sales of its…

Jul

2023

By ROBERT MULLER

NATO makes membership pledge to Ukraine as Zelenskiy drums up support

WORLD

THE head of NATO said the military alliance would unite at a summit next week on how to bring Kyiv closer to joining, while Ukraine's president drummed up support for its membership bid on a tour of several NATO states. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited the Czech Republic and Slovakia a day after holding talks in Bulgaria and was due to travel to Turkey later on Friday. In Prague, he won a pledge of support for Ukraine to join NATO "as soon as the war (with Russia) is over", and in Sofia secured backing for membership "as soon as conditions allow".…

Jun

2023

By JOHN IRISH and ANDREW GRAY

Zelenskiy presses NATO bid, case for fighter jets at Europe summit

WORLD

PRESIDENT Volodymyr Zelenskiy pressed his case for Ukraine to be part of the NATO military alliance and said he was confident a coalition of countries would form to provide Kyiv with Western fighter jets and Patriot missile-defence systems. The Ukrainian leader joined a meeting of European leaders in Moldova, seeking to bolster Western solidarity and keep up the pressure for concrete support ahead of his country's expected counter-offensive against Russia's invasion. Addressing leaders at the start of the gathering, Zelenskiy asked NATO members to take a clear decision on whether to admit Ukraine and also reiterated calls for Western fighter…

May

2023

By OLENA HARMASH and MAX HUNDER

Russian attack on Ukrainian clinic kills two and wounds 30, Kyiv says

WORLD

A Russian missile hit a clinic in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, killing two people and wounding 30 in an attack that President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called a crime against humanity. Video footage showed a devastated building with smoke pouring out of it and rescue workers looking on. Much of the upper floor of what appeared to be a three-storey building had been badly damaged. A covered corpse lay in the road nearby. "Another (Russian) missile attack, another crime against humanity," Zelenskiy wrote on Twitter. He said a psychological clinic and a veterinary clinic had been hit, and added: "Only…

May

2023

By The African Mirror

Ukraine’s Zelenskiy to Iran: Why support Russia and terror?

WORLD

UKRAINIAN President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Iranians to reconsider the supply of deadly drones to Russia in order to stop their slide into "the dark side of history." Iranian-made Shahed drones supplied to Moscow have played a major role in Russia's attacks on cities and infrastructure, though Zelenskiy said Kyiv's air defences were now skilled at downing them - about 900 of 1,160 aimed at Ukrainian targets. "The simple question is this: what is your interest in being an accomplice to Russian terror?" Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address. "What is the benefit to Iran of such cynical killing? By…