“Liberia Is a Friend and Ally of Ukraine” | Politics

As Ukraine marks its 35th Independence Day on August 24, 2026 — coinciding with Liberia’s National Flag Day — Kyiv says its relationship with Monrovia is entering a promising new phase, with both countries exploring deeper cooperation in trade, education, agriculture and digitalization. In this Independence Day interview with the Daily Observer, Ukraine also addresses the state of the war with Russia, prospects for peace, Africa’s potential humanitarian role, Russian activities on the continent and opportunities for stronger Ukraine-Liberia relations. 

How do you assess the current state of affairs on the battlefield? Do you have any thoughts on when the war might end?

The Armed Forces of Ukraine defend our State every day and thwart the enemy’s plans. In particular, the President of Ukraine recently announced the complete liberation of the Dnipro region from the Russian occupiers. In addition, despite the permanent false statements of representatives of the Russian military corps, as of the end of August 2026, the Russian occupier has not been able to completely capture Donbas.

This indicates Russia’s inability to advance further. They hide this inability behind the daily terror of the civilian population, because they know that there is nothing to catch on the battlefield. Every day, the Russian Federation launches dozens of ballistic missiles at peaceful neighborhoods of Ukrainian cities. What kind of readiness for the end of the war can we talk about?

We will be able to talk about when the war will end, when the fighting will cease. As you know, the Ukrainian side has repeatedly proposed holding negotiations on neutral grounds – in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar. However, Russia is not interested in negotiations, which is why every time they find new excuses not to accept President Zelensky’s proposals. Russia is only interested in capturing, killing, raping and stealing. 

Unfortunately, this is exactly what the documented crimes of the Russian Federation in Bucha, Irpin, Olenivka, Kherson and a number of other Ukrainian cities testify to. People were killed, tortured, raped – all this solely because they are Ukrainians…

How important is the mediation of other countries in the humanitarian issues of this war? Do you see the potential for involving Africa in the negotiation process on the humanitarian track?

We are grateful to all those who, to varying degrees, are joining in helping Ukraine and its citizens. This applies to both the states located on the same continental shelf with Ukraine, such as the states of the European Union, Norway, North Macedonia and others, and the United States of America, Canada, the states of South America, as well as Qatar, the UAE, Japan, and South Korea.

At the same time, we are convinced that the potential for involving African states in the humanitarian track in this regard is more than significant. First of all, we are talking about assistance in the return of Ukrainian children and the Coalition of the same name – unfortunately, the issue of abduction of children, their loss of ties with their family and homeland – many African states have gone through these trials and their experience in resolving complex humanitarian issues is extremely important right now, when thousands of Ukrainian children were illegally taken away by Russia and placed in foster families in the Russian Federation, which is one of the most egregious crimes of this war unleashed by the Russian Federation. 

How do you assess the current state of Ukrainian-Liberian relations?

Liberia is a friend and ally of Ukraine in the West African region in particular and on the African continent as a whole. Official Monrovia shares the same postulates as official Kyiv – respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states, as well as for human dignity and freedom, and this is what allows our countries to develop a mutually beneficial partnership.

At the same time, we are sure that we still have something to offer each other in a significant number of areas. For example, Ukraine remains open to students from African countries and Liberia in particular – the high quality of Ukrainian education is a well-known factor in African students choosing Ukraine as the country where they prefer to acquire new skills and competencies.

Currently, a simplified online system for submitting documents to Ukrainian higher education institutions is operating. We already have a significant number of students from West Africa who have received permits to enter Ukraine and are preparing for the start of the new academic year. We are convinced that the educational component is a solid foundation for the development of further cooperation.

In addition, we believe that the potential for cooperation in the field of agriculture remains untapped. Ukraine has unique experience and expertise, primarily in the context of crop management systems, GPS monitoring of equipment and precision agriculture. Moreover, all of the above is currently functioning during the period of active hostilities on the territory of Ukraine, which indicates the stability of the Ukrainian development system to external factors and the possibility of its implementation in states interested in the development of the agricultural sector.

Another important direction is the digitalization of state databases and systems for providing public services. Ukraine has something to offer in this regard, in particular in the light of the automation of the provision of certain consular services to Ukrainian citizens abroad (approximately 7-9 million people – ed. note), access to online state registers, etc.

How does the Russian Federation operate in Africa? Have you encountered cases of disinformation directed against you?

The Russian Federation does not have a strategy specifically allocated to the African continent – Russia has always pursued the same policy towards everyone with whom it considers it necessary not to cooperate, but to exploit.

This is exactly how Russia cooperates with African states – it does not offer solutions, it sows discord and, in fact, does not hide it.

For example, almost on a monthly basis we receive new information about African students who went to the Russian Federation to study, but ended up in the combat zone against their will – they are forced to sign a contract drawn up in Russian, that is, a language they do not even speak sufficiently. If they are lucky, they manage to surrender to the Armed Forces of Ukraine and not die. Unfortunately, such cases are rather an exception to the rule, because for the most part, those whom Russia uses as cannon fodder die in the first days of entering the front line – they are thrown into battle after a week of training.

From open sources we know about cases of criminal recruitment by the Russian Federation in Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia. In our region, citizens of Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ghana have become victims of Russian manipulation. Fortunately, there is currently no information about citizens of Liberia who have become victims of Russian recruitment. We hope that this trend regarding Liberia will continue in the future, because it is very important to make it clear to the Russian Federation that, unlike Russia itself, people are not expendable in other countries.

Citizens of African countries should weigh all the risks when they come into contact with Russians. If there are any doubts, victims of Russian recruiters have repeatedly highlighted the nature of the Russian Federation’s attitude towards people (Malik Diop (Senegal), Richard Kanu (Sierra Leone), etc.). Think twice before signing up for certain death – until a contract with the Russian Armed Forces is signed, you will not find yourself on the battlefield. As soon as the contract is signed, you automatically become a war criminal who violates the territorial integrity and sovereignty of another state and falls under the relevant norms of international law. There is no way back.

As for disinformation, just as Russia hides its inability to advance on the battlefield in Ukraine, Russia hides its crimes behind manipulations and lies in the media. Ukrainian Embassies in Africa are constantly accused of recruiting local citizens, assembling drones right in the Embassies, looking for sorcerers who would poison Putin and his henchmen… This style is nothing new – Ukraine has coexisted and fought against Russia for survival for centuries, so we know very well how Russia seeks to eliminate rivals. But readers should be very careful with such narratives – our African partners have repeatedly debunked Russian lies (for example, in Ghana, when an agent of Russian influence placed Nazi literature on a shelf with Ukrainian books, or in Côte d’Ivoire, when the Russians invented a story about “assembling drones at the Ukrainian Embassy in Abidjan”), which indicates an increasingly better understanding by African countries of the deceitful nature of the Russian Federation.

Turning to the prospects of bilateral relations between Liberia and Ukraine, what, in your opinion, should be the next steps on both sides for the further development of mutually beneficial interstate dialogue?

Ukraine and Liberia are partner countries. Countries that value and respect each other. And this is not only within the framework of international organizations, as I said above. In the bilateral direction, among other things, we are working on agreeing on the draft Agreement on the Establishment of a Joint Commission on Economic and Trade Cooperation between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Government of the Republic of Liberia, on the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Liberia on cooperation in the field of education, as well as on other equally important draft bilateral documents.

In addition, we continue to work on the possible organization of an official visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Liberia, Ms. Sara Beysolow Nyanti, to Ukraine, within the framework of which both states could sign these documents and agree on other specific steps, as you say, of mutually beneficial cooperation between Ukraine and the Republic of Liberia.

These elements of the contractual and legal framework could form the basis, as you ask, of a new stage on the track of Ukrainian-Liberian relations.