Factors Influencing Relations Between Ukraine and African States, 2022–2025

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Nataliia Khoma
Ihor Vdovychyn

Abstract

This study examines Ukraine’s challenges in pursuing the African direction of its foreign policy during the Russian-Ukrainian war that began in 2014 and intensified from in 2022 on. It analyses the processes of intensifying Ukraine’s cooperation with African states, evaluates the outcomes of the African vector of Ukraine’s foreign policy, and assesses future prospects for the development of Ukraine’s relations with African states in terms of existing obstacles and emerging opportunities. The article systematises the key problems that Ukraine faces in the development of relations with African states and investigates the factors that influence Ukraine’s cooperation with African states. For a long time, the African media space rarely focused on Ukraine. The study identifies the main barriers to a sustainable cooperation between Ukraine and African states, including the absence of a long-standing tradition of cooperation, limited mutual understanding of needs and priorities, differences in political regimes, and other constraints.

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How to Cite
Khoma, N., & Vdovychyn, I. (2026). Factors Influencing Relations Between Ukraine and African States, 2022–2025. Modern Africa: Politics, History and Society, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.26806/modafr.v14i1.604
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Articles
Author Biographies

Nataliia Khoma, Department of Political Sciences and International Relations, Lviv Polytechnic National University

She holds a Doctor of Sciences degree in Political Science from the Koretsky Institute of State and Law at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. She is a professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Lviv Polytechnic National University. Her research interests include Ukraine’s interactions with countries in the Global South. In 2024 and 2025, she published several studies on Ukraine’s relations with African states in the context of Russian aggression.

Ihor Vdovychyn, Department of Theory and History of Political Science, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv

He holds a Doctor of Sciences degree in Political Science from the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv in Ukraine. He is a professor in the Department of Theory and History of Political Science at the same university. His research focuses on the methodology of political science and international relations, the Russian–Ukrainian war, and Ukraine’s approaches to realising its national interests on the international stage.