A delegation of African leaders arrived in Ukraine today, led by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. They are in the city of Bucha, the site of some of the worst Russian atrocities during the initial invasion of the country last year. The delegation will be meeting with Zelensky and other Ukrainian leaders to discuss a peaceful settlement of the war. After that meeting, the group will immediately travel to St. Petersburg in Russia to meet with Vladimir Putin. The goal is to find a path to a cease-fire and eventually a peaceful end to the war. But can this African delegation succeed where NATO leaders, China, and everyone else have failed? (Associated Press)

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa arrived in Ukraine on Friday as part of a delegation of African leaders and senior officials seeking ways to end Russia’s war, though an air raid in Kyiv during their visit was a grim reminder of the challenge they face.

Ramaphosa’s press service said that he was met by a Ukrainian special envoy and South Africa’s ambassador at a rail station near Bucha, the Kyiv suburb where bodies of civilians lay scattered in the streets following Russian forces’ withdrawal last spring.

The Bucha visit was symbolically significant, as its name has come to stand for the barbarity of Moscow’s military since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The brutal Russian occupation of Bucha left hundreds of civilians dead in the streets and in mass graves.

In addition to Ramaphosa, the delegation includes the leaders of Zambia, Senegal, Uganda, Egypt, the Republic of the Congo and the Comoro Islands. Beyond peace talks, Ramaphosa has other goals in mind. South Africa desperately needs to import fertilizer from Russia for its farmers and wants to find a way to pay for those exports without violating international sanctions. They also want to find a way to increase international shipments of grain from Ukraine to Africa.

The motivation for Ramaphosa and the other African leaders is clear. South Africa has maintained close economic ties with Russia throughout the conflict. Most of the countries in this delegation have chosen to abstain from votes on sanctions against Russia, preferring to avoid taking sides between Moscow and the West. As we’ve seen for more than a year, this war isn’t benefitting anyone outside of the military-industrial complex, and Africa has been particularly hard hit.

The question here, however, is what the group can offer to Putin that would entice him to consider ending the war. They would have to ask him to offer something in terms of reparations to Ukraine. Putin has previously ruled that out. And Zelensky would probably need to allow Russia to keep at least some of the territory it annexed in Ukraine just to save face. All of this sounds unlikely because this has been a pointless war of aggression from the beginning.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden is making the peace talks even more unlikely to succeed by approving an accelerated plan for Ukraine to join NATO.

President Biden supports a plan from NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg to announce that Ukraine will not have to complete a “membership action plan” (MAP) to join the alliance, two sources familiar with the discussions tell Axios.

Ahead of a critical summit next month in Vilnius, allies have been sharply divided over how to handle the question of Ukraine’s future membership.

Ukraine joining NATO has been one of Vladimir Putin’s biggest “red flags” in terms of Russian aggression. The Russians have long protested the eastward expansion of NATO in violation of agreements that were made at the end of the cold war. If Ukraine is accepted into the alliance, Russia will be fully encircled by NATO nations along its western flank.

And then there’s the question of NATO’s responsibilities. Let’s not forget that if Ukraine becomes a member, the next rocket that strikes inside of its borders will mean that Russia has attacked a NATO member and the rest of us will be obligated to join the battle in Zelensky’s defense. What is Joe Biden thinking? Is he literally trying to start world war 3?

I’ll include here my periodic reminder that nobody has voted on this fiasco. Congress hasn’t held a vote. The American people were not given a voice in the process. The Biden administration has done all of this on its own. There should be no deal made in terms of Ukraine joining NATO until the public has a say in the matter. The stakes are simply too high.