Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear African brothers and sisters,

I am glad to address you on the occasion of Africa Day while visiting the African continent for the second time in less than a year. This shows our true commitment to a new era of Ukrainian-African relations. We came to talk as equals and work as partners.

Despite being geographically distant, Ukraine and Africa share deep historical ties.  We have always shared and supported the aspirations of African nations towards independence, unity, and progress. As a co-founder of the United Nations, Ukraine has consistently defended and promoted the interests of African nations within the UN.

Over many decades, Ukrainian specialists from various fields helped construct hundreds of infrastructure facilities in dozens of African countries. Processing plants, hydroelectric power stations, ports, bridges, roads, hospitals, and schools.

Ukraine has also been proud to host thousands of African students. Many of them have become prominent political, business, and social leaders in their nations. We will be happy to welcome more young Africans who want to study and work in Ukraine.

In the past, not only students but also brave fighters of African national liberation movements were trained on Ukrainian soil. From 1965 to the 1980s, many of them were  trained in Ukraine for the needs of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde, the South West Africa People's Organization in Namibia, the  Zimbabwe African People's Union, the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola, the Liberation Front of Mozambique, and the African National Congress in South Africa. This is our shared history. We are proud of it and won’t let anyone steal this common past from us.

Mozambican revolutionary and the first president of independent Mozambique, Samora Machel, once said: "International solidarity is not an act of charity: it is an act of unity between allies fighting on different terrains toward the same objective”. These wise words remain fully relevant today.

Ukraine has always been committed to maintaining peace in Africa and has significantly contributed to relevant global efforts. More than 300 Ukrainian blue helmets performed tasks within four UN missions in Africa: in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Abyei Area, and Mali.

Ukrainian sailors have participated in international collective actions to counter maritime piracy off the coast of Somalia.

As of February 2022, 80% of Ukrainian peacekeepers abroad were deployed in African countries.

We know the price of peace and the importance of maintaining it.

Today, Ukraine is reinvigorating its foreign policy toward Africa aimed at a Ukrainian-African renaissance.

We have recently adopted our first African strategy and intensified our political dialogue with many countries on the continent. This year, we are going to establish new embassies in different parts of the continent and plan to hold the first Ukraine-Africa Summit. I invite the leaders of your countries to take part in this important event.

We want to develop a new quality of partnership based on three mutual principles: mutual respect, mutual interests, and mutual benefits.

Friends,

For more than a year, Ukraine has been fighting a defensive war for its freedom and independence against Russian invaders. This is not a border dispute, but a war of aggression. Russia tries to establish control over Ukraine because it does not recognize our right to exist as a sovereign nation and choose our path of peaceful and prosperous development.

Angola’s President João Lourenço gave a precise definition of the current situation based on the similar experience of his country. He said: “If we fought against the interventionists in the past, we understand that everyone else has the same right. And we do not understand how those people, who then helped us fight against the invaders, today annexed four regions of the neighboring state”.

Ukrainians are a nation that fights for justice, against oppression, and against human rights violations. Supporting Ukraine is not about being pro-Western or anti-Western. It is about respecting the UN Charter, international law and order, as well as the right of every nation to choose its own peaceful path of development.

We are hearing calls for peace from various countries and leaders. We support them as such and think they need to be directed first and foremost to Russia as the country that started this war.

No other nation in the world wants peace more than Ukraine. But we know that real peace needs to be just and sustainable. We are open to discussing any peace initiative if it respects two principles: does not suggest territorial concessions and does not lead to a frozen conflict instead of peace.

Ukraine has a clear plan in this regard. It is called President Zelenskyy’s Peace Formula. This war is happening on Ukraine’s soil, so we consider it natural that a Ukrainian peace plan should be at the core of the peace effort. We invite African countries to join the implementation of the formula.

Food security is a significant element of the formula, and the one especially important for African nations.