African leaders meet Putin in latest mediation effort

MOSCOW/KYIV — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday met with a group of leaders of African countries who traveled to Russia in their latest mediation efforts at ending the conflict between Kyiv and Moscow.

Seven African leaders — the presidents of Comoros, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia, as well as Egypt's prime minister and top envoys from the Republic of Congo and Uganda — visited Ukraine a day earlier to try to help end the nearly 16-month-old conflict.

The African leaders then traveled to St. Petersburg on Saturday to meet Putin.

The mission to Ukraine, the first of its kind by African leaders, comes in the wake of other peace initiatives and carries particular importance for Africa, which relies on food and fertilizer deliveries from Russia and Ukraine. The conflict has impeded exports from one of the world's most important breadbaskets.

"This conflict is affecting Africa negatively," South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said at a news conference alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and four other African leaders after their closed-door talks on Friday.

Ramaphosa and others acknowledged the intensity of the conflict but insisted all conflicts must come to an end and emphasized their willingness to help expedite that.

"The road to peace is very hard," he said, adding that "there is a need to bring this conflict to an end sooner rather than later".

Ramaphosa listed 10 principles, which included de-escalation, security guarantees for all countries, unimpeded grain exports through the Black Sea and sending prisoners and children back to their countries of origin.

'Difficult to implement'

"Any initiative is very difficult to implement," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by the state-run agency RIA Novosti.

"But President Putin has shown interest in considering it," Peskov said after the leaders held a meeting behind closed doors.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the plan was "not formulated on paper".

Putin had praised the delegation's "balanced" approach and said he was "open to a constructive dialogue with all those who want to implement peace based on the principles of justice and respect for the parties' legitimate interests".

The African peace mission comes as Ukraine launches a counteroffensive to dislodge the Russian forces from occupied areas, using Western-supplied weapons in attacks on several sections of the more than 1,000-kilometer front line.

On Sunday, Ukrainian said its forces destroyed a "significant" ammunition depot near the port city of Henichesk in the southern region of Kherson.

The information could not be independently verified, and there was no immediate comment from Russia on the alleged attack.

Agencies Via Xinhua