President Museveni holds talks with Ukrainian President Zelensky

For the first time in the history of bilateral relations, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky had a telephone conversation with President of Uganda Yoweri Museveni.

“I was pleased to have the first conversation in the history of bilateral relations with President of Uganda Yoweri Museveni,” Zelensky posted on Telegram.

As noted, the leaders discussed Ukrainian peace initiatives at the UN and the potential for the development of bilateral relations.

Earlier Zelensky had congratulated the newly appointed head of the African Union and said that he expected close cooperation, in particular, in strengthening food security.

On 22 February, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy talked to the leaders of Pakistan, Uganda, Estonia and the UK, and said the rest of the week would be busy in terms of international contacts and engagements.

"Today, we continued our diplomatic marathon to strengthen Ukraine and protect international law, which gives our country more security. I spoke with four leaders of states." He said 

  Zelenskyy said he had discussed the importance of maintaining "full force and respect" for the UN Charter, the independence of nations and the territorial integrity of states with Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi. The presidents also discussed their efforts to ensure food security and the factors that currently threaten it.

Zelenskyy noted that over the seven months of Ukraine’s grain export initiative, 43 countries have received more than 22 million tonnes of food through sea export from Ukraine.

He said that had it not been for this initiative, political and social chaos would ensue in several African and Asian countries, and the cost of living crisis that various nations experienced last year would be much more acute.

"But if this initiative of ours had worked at full capacity, if Russia had not tried to slow it down, we would have been able to export more food products. That is, there would be significantly more guarantees of food security in the world. Our partners know exactly which of Russia's deliberate actions are undermining food security. Still, we are working to provide the necessary stability," Zelenskyy said.

Today President Zelenskyy also spoke with the President of Estonia, Alar Karis, thanking him for Estonia’s unwavering support for Ukraine in terms of both weapons supplies and support for sanctions against Russia

"Today we discussed the upcoming NATO Summit in Vilnius and our expectations in the context of Ukraine's integration. We are already preparing for these upcoming events," Zelenskyy said.

In the evening Zelenskyy spoke with Rishi Sunak, the UK Prime Minister.

"We are working in a very powerful manner together with the UK to strengthen our warriors, to bring our shared victory closer, to implement the defence agreements we reached during my visit to London. And it would be great if all our partners understood, as the UK does, how the speed of defence supplies correlates with concrete achievements on the battlefield," Zelenskyy said.

He added that he and Sunak had also discussed important political issues that "need to be resolved this week".

"The second half of the week will be even busier in terms of international relations. We are keeping up the diplomatic pace," Zelenskyy concluded.