It was a high-profile and symbolic visit cut short by war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrived in South Africa on Wednesday, his first trip to the continent, seeking to build stronger diplomatic ties and garner support from African nations.

But just hours later, he was forced to return home after a deadly barrage of Russian missile and drone attacks on Kyiv claimed the lives of at least eight people.

While in South Africa, President Zelenskiy held talks with President Cyril Ramaphosa, who reiterated Pretoria's call for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine without any preconditions-especially those that require territorial concessions from Ukraine.

To unpack the significance of this visit and what it reveals about South Africa's Foreign Policy positioning, Peter Ndoro spoke to Sanusha Naidu, foreign policy analyst at the Institute for Global Dialogue..