Ukraine rejects calls to 'freeze' conflict, says Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Wednesday that discussions to end the war with Russia could not begin with a cease-fire. “If anyone thinks they should freeze the conflict and then see how to solve it, they don’t understand it,” he said in an online briefing aimed at African journalists, following a tour of African countries. More than 100 rounds of dialogue and cease-fire negotiations since Russia’s takeover of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, he claims, have only resulted in a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. A team of African heads of state is planning to visit Ukraine and Russia in the next few days in the hope of persuading them to end hostilities, according to a spokeswoman for South African President Cyril Ramaphosa last month. He stated on Wednesday that no date for the mission has been determined. Such a plan would imply that Russian forces would remain on Ukrainian territory even while peace talks began. Ukraine previously stated that Russian soldiers should leave before such talks could begin, while Moscow demands that Kyiv accept Russian sovereignty over Crimea as a prerequisite for talks. The movement is led by Senegal’s President Macky Sall, last year’s African Union chairperson, whose nation was not present at the most recent UN vote condemning Russia in February of this year. Comoros Islands President Othman Ghazali, the current African Union chairman, was just appointed to the delegation. It also includes presidents Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt and Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia - which both voted for the resolution - and Congo Republic’s Denis Sassou Nguesso, and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, which both abstained, as did South Africa. Kuleba has been on a charm offensive in Africa to win support in a continent where 30 of the 54 African UN member states voted in favour of the UN resolution condemning Russia’s invasion. “What we see in our relations with the continent right now is fair to call a Ukrainian-African Renaissance,” Kuleba said. He had no details on what the African peace mission entailed, but he welcomed it. “We are looking forward to hosting these presidents in Kyiv,” he said. Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.