NewsMahama thanked Putin in Moscow. The word "ceasefire" never came up
In his full speech at the Russia–Africa Summit, Ghana's president praised Russia as "a true and selfless friend of Africa". The same day, Ghana signed a jobs deal with Russia's Alabuga industrial zone.
President John Dramani Mahama thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday for his "willingness to resume trilateral talks" on the war in Ukraine, in his address to the 3rd Russia–Africa Summit in Moscow.
What he said
In the full eight-minute speech posted by TV3, Mahama said the world was "plagued by conflict", welcomed Putin's "call for a lasting peace agreement and security for both Russia and Ukraine", and asked for help against terrorism "in the territories of the Alliance of Sahelian States". He also told the summit he had studied in Moscow from 1986 to 1988, and said "Russia has been a true and selfless friend of Africa."
Eight days earlier, at the FT Africa Summit in London, he said he would press Putin for a ceasefire. The word does not appear in the Moscow speech.
Ghana's record at the UN
Under President Akufo-Addo's government, Ghana sat on the UN Security Council and voted on 25 February 2022 for the draft condemning the invasion, which Russia vetoed. Ghana also voted yes at the General Assembly in March 2022, October 2022 and February 2023, but abstained in April 2022 on suspending Russia from the Human Rights Council.
On 24 February 2025, seven weeks into Mahama's term, Ghana abstained on a resolution condemning Russia. The United States voted no, alongside Russia.
Ghanaians in the war
In February 2026 Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa became the first Ghanaian foreign minister to visit Kyiv, to seek access to two Ghanaians held as prisoners of war. In August he said 62 Ghanaians had died in the war and 15 were missing.
The same day
On 29 October, Labour Minister Emmanuel Agyekum signed a memorandum with Russia's Alabuga Special Economic Zone in Tatarstan to recruit Ghanaian workers for 48 companies. In 2024 the Associated Press reported that about 90 percent of Alabuga's foreign women recruits were assembling Shahed attack drones. The Ghana agreement refers to industrial jobs.
Friends to all is fine. But a real friend asks the hard question first. Sixty-two Ghanaians are dead in Russia's war, and in eight minutes on camera I didn't hear it. Before one Ghanaian boards a plane to Alabuga, put that contract in public.
- TV3/3News: the full speech at the 3rd Russia–Africa Summit, Moscow, 29 Oct 2026 (8 min 11 s)
- Citi Newsroom and ModernGhana: Mahama in London, 21 Oct 2026, on seeking a ceasefire
- PBS/AP and RTÉ: Russia agrees to resume trilateral talks after 10 Nov, 21 Oct 2026
- UN records, Rainbow Radio, UN Project, MyJoyOnline, Citi, Al Jazeera: Ghana's UN votes, 2022–2025
- Ukraine MFA and MyJoyOnline: Ablakwa in Kyiv, 25 Feb 2026
- Adom and ModernGhana: 62 Ghanaians dead, 15 missing (Aug 2026)
- Citi Newsroom and GhanaWeb: Ghana–Alabuga labour MoU, 29 Oct 2026
- AP via ABC News and The Moscow Times: AP's 2024 Alabuga investigation
- ADF (Aug 2026) and African Arguments (Jul 2026): northern Ghana and JNIM
Every factual line in this story is checked against at least two independent sources, unless the text says it comes from one report.