From 18 to 22 June, upon the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and with the support of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Poland and the Czech Republic, as well as the European External Action Service, a group of African journalists participated in a press tour to Ukraine.

11 media representatives from 8 African states - Ghana, Zambia, Kenya, Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal, and Tanzania - visited Lviv, Kyiv, and the de-occupied territories of Kyiv region. This visit was the fifth press tour of leading media outlets in Africa and Latin America, organised by the MFA as part of its New Horizons strategy. It should be noted that the MFA has adopted the first-ever communication strategies "Ukraine – African States" and "Ukraine – Latin American and Caribbean States".

In Lviv, the “European Capital of Youth 2025”, the journalists met with youth NGOs, civil society representatives and local government officials. Moreover, they visited the Superhumans Center – National Rehabilitation Center for War Trauma, where they spoke with patients and staff, and learned about advanced technologies in prosthetics, reconstructive surgery, and other areas of the Center’s work.

While in Kyiv, the African media representatives held a meeting with Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha. He called on African capitals and the African Union to support Ukraine's peace efforts across all international platforms, stressing the urgent need for full diplomatic mobilisation of the global community to compel Russia to agree to a ceasefire and open the path toward a genuine peace process.

"I was pleased to meet with representatives of leading African media. I highlighted the great potential for mutually beneficial cooperation between our countries – from Ukraine's continued efforts to strengthen food security across the African continent and develop bilateral trade to the exchange of modern technologies and expansion of educational and cultural programs for youth," the Minister noted.

On the same day, the group held a meeting with Ukraine’s Special Representative for the Middle East and Africa, Maksym Subkh. During the meeting, they discussed in detail the current issues of Ukraine's bilateral relations with African countries, mechanisms for countering Russian disinformation in the information space of the continent's states, and Ukraine's vision of achieving a just, sustainable, and comprehensive peace.

Of particular note was the visit of African journalists to the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, where they received detailed information on human rights violations in temporarily occupied Crimea and met Oleksandra Barkova, the sister of Ukrainian political prisoner Bohdan Ziza, who remains in Russian custody. The journalists also had a meeting with leading Ukrainian experts in research and counteraction to FIMI – foreign information manipulation and interference in the information space.

The journalists traditionally met with the African Council in Ukraine, a non-governmental organisation whose members come from different African countries and are actively working to strengthen good relations between Ukraine and the African continent through projects in the areas of public diplomacy, culture, education, trade and economic relations, and more.

At the end of the visit, the delegation traveled to sites of war crimes committed by the Russian Federation in the towns of Borodyanka, Bucha and Irpin in Kyiv region, and witnessed firsthand the aftermath of Russia's recent barbaric attacks on the civilian infrastructure in the Ukrainian capital.

Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Mykhailo Pakholyuk.