DOMINANT ANGLE
Pretoria is downplaying the invitation extended to Vladimir Putin for the G20 in Miami by contrasting it with the ongoing Russian strikes targeting Kyiv despite the Lavrov-Rubio talks.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
Lavrov and Rubio expressed a common interest on Wednesday in a limited ceasefire covering agricultural and energy targets, according to Business Day.
- 02
The same day, the Kremlin judged that the conditions for future peace talks had still not been met and that no high-level meeting was planned.
- 03
Russian drone strikes on Kyiv killed at least two people and injured 22 others just hours after the meeting between Zelensky and Trump in New York.
ANALYSIS
Pretoria, September 24, 2026. The invitation extended by Washington to Vladimir Putin for the G20 summit in Miami in December is being met with skepticism in the South African press, which points to facts that remind us that the war is ongoing. According to Business Day, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held discussions on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where "both parties expressed interest in a limited ceasefire targeting agricultural and energy targets." On the same day, the Kremlin announced that the conditions for future peace negotiations "had still not been met" and that no high-level meeting was planned.
This disconnect between diplomatic gestures and the reality on the ground structures the South African reading of the episode. Just hours after the meeting between Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump in New York, Russia bombed Kyiv with drones, targeting railway infrastructure, warehouses, and gas stations: at least two dead and 22 injured, according to municipal authorities, one of the heaviest strikes since Moscow deployed jet-propelled drones this summer, which are faster and more difficult to intercept. The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, reported that a nine-story non-residential building had been hit, as well as a business center and warehouses.
At the UN podium, Zelensky urged world leaders to continue to strangle Russian revenues, estimating that "Russia's revenues must remain a target" and that any easing of sanctions would be misplaced "when Ukrainians live every day under the threat of missiles and drones." On Telegram, he warned that intelligence indicated that Russia was preparing "a new massive attack" against Ukraine. Asked by the Wall Street Journal, he said that Putin "is neither winning nor losing" the war, but remains unwilling to negotiate directly.
Putin, absent from the General Assembly - he has not attended in several years - was represented by Lavrov, who assured the Security Council that Moscow remained ready to negotiate a lasting peace but refused a simple pause, which it deemed would allow Kyiv to rearm. For the South African press, the invitation to the Miami summit is part of this ongoing contradiction between announcements of rapprochement and the continuation of a war on the ground, where the front lines have barely moved in months.
