Authors

Discussion

The war in Ukraine has reinforced the current dynamic of the Russian regime reorienting towards the BRICS and trying to appeal to new partners labelled as the ‘Global South’. Recent academic works have underlined the inclusion of this dynamic in the process of ‘de-westernization’ and rise of a new world order (Daniélou, 2023). While recent works have focused on Russia’s geopolitical dynamics in this trend, this proposal aims at throwing light on Ukraine’s attempts to appeal to the ‘Global South’ in the context of the full-scale invasion and ongoing war of aggression.

By the end of 2022, Volodymyr Zelensky designated the ‘Global South’ as a priority in Ukraine’s diplomatic efforts. While many ‘Global South’ nations view Ukraine as part of Western-led multilateralism and a pawn (or proxy) of the ‘collective West’, it is crucial for Ukraine to maintain its strong alliances in the ‘Global North’ while simultaneously seeking new partnerships in the ‘Global South’ (Korniychuk, 2023).

The communication will cover several projects and key actors that have therefore developed their activities to address the issue. The Ukraine Crisis Media Center has implemented the ‘Unfold Ukraine to Global South’ project, to bring journalists from East-Asia to Ukraine to discuss the impact of the Kremlin’s war and disinformation. The Ukrainian Institute, the key actor of Ukraine’s cultural diplomacy, has stated that it will shift its priorities to new countries, like Kenya, South Africa, and Nigeria in Sub-Saharan Africa; Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico in Latin America; and India and Indonesia in Asia.

As Ryabchuk (2024) said “Ukraine should change its narrative. Rather than stressing the fight against autocracy it should frame its anti-colonial struggle as a defense of national dignity, identity and sovereignty”. This proposal will therefore underline the hopes of Kyiv to see the anti-colonial nature of Ukraine’s defense against an aggressor with neo-imperialistic tendencies striking a chord of sympathy among ‘Global South’ nations, particularly of those which share a deep (post-)colonial trauma (Kurnyshova, 2024). Taiwan appears as a crucial partner displaying some similarities with Ukraine, which motivated the organization of some art exhibitions to throw light on the importance of cultural resistance in wartime (Cultural Strategy Institute).

The ultimate goal is to disrupt the current conventional approach in the study of post-2022 geopolitics regarding the relations between the former Soviet Union and the ‘Global South’, to show that Ukraine plans on becoming a key European actor engaging with the non-Western world. It envisions to complete the literature on Russia’s pivot to Asia by decentering the perspective, and bring empirical evidence to the study of Ukraine’s foreign policy and current remodeling.