Ukraine and the Global South

In recent weeks, Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky has been on a spate of diplomatic missions: He’s joining the G-7 meetings in Hiroshima, Japan, which follows a visit to Saudi Arabia to attend the Arab League summit, which was preceded by appearances in London, Rome, Paris, and Berlin. At each stop, Zelensky has been winning promises for more arms and economic aid for his country.

But while most of Zelensky’s meetings have been with leaders of rich industrialized nations, primarily in the West, he has also directed his diplomats to step up engagement in the global south. As Foreign Policy has chronicled, a majority of the world’s population lives in parts of the world that have refused to join U.S.-led sanctions against Russia.

One Ukrainian diplomat who has focused her energies on Asia is deputy foreign minister Emine Dzhaparova. She first spoke with FP’s Ravi Agrawal  at the Doha Forum in Qatar in March 2022, just weeks after the start of Russia’s invasion. Dzhaparova has since worked to put Kyiv’s case in front of leaders in the global south, correcting misperceptions and positioning Ukraine’s plight as a situation that could happen to other countries too. Most recently, in April, she visited New Delhi, where she gave a speech titled Russia’s War in Ukraine: Why the World Should Care.

The answer to that question might be simple on paper. But the real question is whether any countries will change their policies. Dzhaparova joined Agrawal on FP Live from Kyiv. FP subscribers can watch the full discussion or read an edited and condensed transcript, exclusive to FP Insiders.