Kenya Condemns Russia’s Actions in Ukraine, Drawing Parallels to Africa’s Colonial Legacy

Kenya’s ambassador to the United Nations has sharply criticized Russia’s recognition of two separatist regions in eastern Ukraine, invoking Africa’s colonial history as a warning against the dangers of reviving imperial ambitions.

Speaking at an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Monday, Ambassador Martin Kimani compared Russia’s move to Africa’s experience with arbitrary colonial borders, arguing that attempts to redraw boundaries based on historical grievances risked reigniting cycles of domination and conflict.

“This situation echoes our history,” Kimani said. “Kenya and almost every African country was born out of the end of empire. Our borders were not of our own drawing — they were imposed from distant capitals like London, Paris, and Lisbon, with no regard for the nations and peoples they divided.”

Kimani noted that, at independence in 1963, Kenya chose not to challenge its colonial-era borders but to pursue peace through regional integration and cooperation. “Had we chosen to form states based on ethnic, racial, or religious homogeneity, we would still be waging bloody wars today,” he said. “Instead, we looked forward to building a shared greatness that none of our peoples had known before.”

He stressed that Kenya understands the desire of communities separated by history to reunite, but warned that such ambitions must never be pursued through force. “We must recover from the embers of dead empires in ways that do not plunge us back into new forms of domination and oppression,” he declared.

Russia’s decision to recognize the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) in Ukraine’s Donbas region, followed by the deployment of what Moscow described as “peacekeeping” troops, marked a major escalation in the long-running conflict.

For nearly eight years, the Donbas area has been the scene of a low-intensity war between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces, claiming more than 14,000 lives. President Vladimir Putin’s latest move has heightened fears of a full-scale invasion and prompted Western nations to impose new rounds of sanctions against Moscow.

Kenya’s remarks were widely praised for their clarity and moral weight, offering an African perspective that linked Europe’s ongoing crisis to lessons learned from Africa’s painful history of colonialism and partition.