Last year Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, cut short his first tour to Africa since Russia’s invasion. Officially, he left because Russia launched a swathe of missile and drone strikes on critical Ukrainian infrastructure. Unofficially, there were suspicions he was failing to make headway with several African leaders who have close ties with Russia. This week, Kuleba is trying again, travelling first to Morocco in another push to counter Russia’s influence in the Global South (a term that includes countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia). His tour follows some intense diplomacy by Ukraine’s Zelensky at the Arab League of Nations and then at the G7 summit in Japan. Zelensky reportedly made progress with India’s Narendra Modi – who so far has refused to condemn the invasion. But things didn’t go so well with Brazil’s Lula, who told Reuters that Zelensky didn’t show up to a bilateral meeting.
