Representatives from Cape Verde will join the upcoming peace summit in Switzerland in June, making it the first African country to confirm its participation, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on May 7.
The event will be centered around Ukraine's 10-point peace formula, a plan first outlined by Zelensky in fall 2022 that calls for a complete withdrawal of Russian troops from occupied Ukrainian lands.
Many Western countries have said they would attend the summit, but it has been more difficult for Ukraine to get countries from the Global South to join the effort.
Zelensky said he spoke with Cape Verdean Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva on the phone and "thanked him for his support for the peace formula and his personal principled position on the Russian invasion."
"Africa's voice is important when it comes to global support for a just peace in Ukraine," Zelensky added.
Russia has not been invited to participate in the global peace summit, and Moscow has said it would refuse to attend even if invited.
Ukraine has made considerable diplomatic efforts to get China to join the talks, but U.S. officials have said they do not believe China will agree to the points outlined in the peace formula.
Chris York
