At the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, a group of African journalists from ten countries — Cameroon, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania and Ghana — are on a press tour in Ukraine, which began on 18 November.
During the first four days of the visit, the journalists met with the First Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, and members of parliament responsible for developing interparliamentary relations with African countries, agriculture and land policy, ecology, education and sports. In addition, African media representatives met with the leadership of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the families of Ukrainian cultural figures who died during Russia's war against Ukraine, and representatives of leading Ukrainian civil society organisations.
The delegation also met with the Special Representative of Ukraine for the Middle East and Africa Maksym Subkh, and had a detailed discussion of current issues of Ukraine's relations with African countries, prospects for their development, as well as the role of Ukraine and President Zelenskyy's humanitarian initiative "Grain from Ukraine" in strengthening food security on the continent, etc.
In addition, African journalists met with representatives of the agricultural company "Kernel", which is the world's leading producer and exporter of sunflower oil, as well as Ukraine's largest producer and exporter of grain and a key supplier of agricultural products from the Black Sea region to world markets. During the meeting, the delegation had the opportunity to learn more about the structure and opportunities of Ukraine's agribusiness, innovations in agriculture, and the challenges for Ukrainian agribusiness caused by Russia's full-scale aggression.
African media representatives visited the crime scenes of the Russian Federation in the Chernihiv city and Chernihiv region - a school in the Yahidne village, where local residents were held in the basement during the occupation, and the Taras Shevchenko Chernihiv Regional Academic Music and Drama Theatre, which was subjected to a rocket attack in August 2023. The journalists also met with representatives of local authorities, activists and volunteers who worked during the encirclement of Chernihiv in February-March 2022.
The delegation visited the National Conservation Area ‘Saint-Sophia of Kyiv’ and the National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide, where they were able to see the consistency of Russia's genocidal policy towards Ukraine for centuries.
Notably, this is the second time that the MFA has organised a press tour of African media representatives to Ukraine. The first press tour, which was attended by 15 media representatives from 11 African countries, was organised in November 2023.
Photo: Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Office of the Ombudsman, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Kernel, National Conservation Area “St. Sophia of Kyiv”, National Museum of the Holodomor Genocide, Anastasiia Mantach, Artem Galkin.