SA uniquely positioned to broach peace between Russia and Ukraine, says Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa is the “only country” able to engage Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump to broach peace between Russia and Ukraine. 

Read more: SA’s shuttle diplomacy between Kyiv and Moscow is at Ukraine’s direction, says Dirco DG

Ramaphosa held a bilateral meeting with Zelensky on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday morning, 24 September 2025. 

??His Excellency President @CyrilRamaphosa had a bilateral meeting with ??His Excellency President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly in New York, United States of America.#UNGA80 ?? pic.twitter.com/QdEgYz4p1k

— The Presidency ?? (@PresidencyZA) September 24, 2025

Speaking to Daily Maverick after the meeting, Ramaphosa said Zelenskyy had briefed him on a “number of initiatives that are under way with Europe”. Last week, the European Union (EU) announced a new package of sanctions designed to batter Russia’s economy and make it more difficult for the country to fund its war in Ukraine, reported The New York Times. 

“We also raised the potential of the necessity of President Zelensky and President Putin meeting, and we [are] working on something that we would like to happen, to help them to get together,” Ramaphosa said. 

The president floated the idea of a trilateral between Zelensky, Putin and Trump, saying a meeting between the three leaders “would be a very good one”. 

“We are, as South Africa, I think, the only country that is able to talk to all three [countries] with a great deal of respect and a great deal of willingness to assist as much as we possibly can. And the good thing is that they do listen to us, so I’m going to be talking to all three of them separately and to see what’s possible,” Ramaphosa told Daily Maverick. 

Read more: What role, if any, is South Africa playing in Ukraine peace efforts?

In a post on X about the meeting on Wednesday, Zelensky said he had informed Ramaphosa “about Russia’s intensified drone strikes against civilian targets” and shared an update on the frontline situation. 

“I emphasised that, unlike Russia, Ukraine is ready for a meeting at the leaders’ level without any preconditions,” said Zelensky. He added that he was “grateful” to Ramaphosa for SA’s “readiness to host such a meeting and for his country’s [South Africa] engagement in the peace process”. 

I met with President of the Republic of South Africa @CyrilRamaphosa.

I informed President Ramaphosa about Russia’s intensified drone strikes against civilian targets and shared an update on the frontline situation. I emphasized that, unlike Russia, Ukraine is ready for a… pic.twitter.com/j4LpFcRfNI

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 24, 2025

Zelensky visited South Africa in April for official talks with Ramaphosa, following Ramaphosa’s visit to Ukraine in June 2023 as part of the Africa Peace Initiative. 

The Ukrainian President’s visit to SA appeared to boost Pretoria’s diplomatic stature at a critical time in its relations with Washington, with both Trump and Putin calling Ramaphosa to discuss the meeting and the implications of the visit. 

Read more: Zelensky touches down at Lanseria on the first visit to SA by a Ukrainian head of state

Last month, the director-general of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco), Zane Dangor, said SA was in discussions with Ukraine about whether it should continue to provide shuttle diplomacy between Russia and Ukraine in the peace process between the two warring nations, given the US’ dominant role. 

On Wednesday, Dangor told Daily Maverick that SA had reminded the Ukrainians that it was still open to providing shuttle diplomacy at the meeting between Ramaphosa and Zelensky. 

In a speech to world leaders at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday morning, Zelensky said more weapons were needed to defend Ukraine after global institutions had failed to maintain peace in the region. 

“International law does not fully function without powerful friends ready to defend it. Even having friends won’t work without weapons. The only guarantee of security is friends and weapons,” Zelensky said.

His address came after a meeting with Trump on Tuesday, 23 September, where the American president appeared to shift his position in Ukraine’s favour, saying he believed Ukraine could retake all its territory seized by Russia, according to a Reuters report. 

“The Americans vacillate, so you can see that there’s been a change in the last couple of days in terms of the approach that they’re taking. I think that those of us who have been working with Ukraine and Russia, but Ukraine mostly, will continue to look at what avenues we can use to explore the shuttle diplomacy,” said Dangor. DM

Victoria O’Regan is a 2025 Dag Hammarskjöld Journalism Fellow whose reporting on the 80th UN General Assembly and its activities in New York has been sponsored by the Dag Hammarskjöld Fund for Journalists.