Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, has called on Russia troops to stop the aggression on Ukraine, and return back to their country.
Onyema met with envoys of the G7 countries in Nigeria on Friday. He expressed worries over the Russian-Ukraine conflict and called for peace.
“Peace and diplomacy to be prioritised by both sides. We support every effort being made to stop the aggression and Russian troops to return to Russia,” Onyeama said.
Also in attendance at the meeting were United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard; British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing; Head of the European Union Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Samuela Isopi.
Others were the representatives of the Embassies of Japan and Canada.
Russian and Ukrainian forces clashed in the Ukrainian capital on Saturday as authorities urged citizens to help defend the city from advancing Russian forces in the worst European security crisis in decades.
But even as the fighting grew more intense, the Russian and Ukrainian governments signalled an openness to negotiations, offering the first glimmer of hope for diplomacy since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion on Thursday.