Joyini told an emergency sitting of the UN’s General Assembly last night that South Africa has welcomed the talks between Ukraine and Russia. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has requested relevant agencies to step up support to foreign citizens, including students wishing to return home and has dismissed reports of racial discrimination as “disinformation”.  This comes after social media was riddled with personal accounts of racial discrimination against African students attempting to evacuate Ukraine through its borders and trains. Russian forces have at the same time intensified their bombardment of Ukraine’s biggest cities.

More than 100 diplomats from some 40 countries have walked out of a speech by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the United Nations in Geneva as a protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Yesterday’s boycott by envoys from the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and others left only a few diplomats in the room.