South African President Cyril RamaphosaMOSCOW, Mar 17 The situation in Ukraine could have been avoided if including if NATO had heeded warnings about not expanding eastward, said South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. would have been avoided if NATO had heeded the warnings of its own leaders and officials, who have been saying for years that eastward expansion would lead to more instability in the region,» the president said, speaking in parliament. Excerpts from the speech of the leader of South Africa are given on his Twitter. some people who want South Africa to take a more «hostile stance», but the country's approach is to achieve a «lasting solution to the conflict.» Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24th. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Armed Forces strike only at the military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops. With the support of the Russian Armed Forces, the DNR and LNR groups are developing an offensive, but there is no talk of the occupation of Ukraine, the Russian president emphasized. dollar, according to an expert
