Six African leaders are proposing that Ukraine agree to start peace talks with Russia even if Russian troops remain on its territory, South Africa’s presidency said on Monday, as South African officials prepared to visit both countries to discuss the idea, Reuters reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and South African President Cyril RamaphosaPhoto: Serhii Chirikov / AP / Profimedia

Ukraine has said Russian troops must withdraw from its territory before talks can begin, and Moscow wants Kyiv to recognize Russian sovereignty over Crimea, which it annexed from Ukraine in 2014, as a precondition for talks. Russian troops launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“First, it is the cessation of hostilities. Second, it is the basis for sustainable peace,” said Vincent Magwenya, spokesman for the South African presidency.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the initiative on May 16. Senegalese President Macky Sall, last year’s African Union chairman, whose country was absent from the last UN vote condemning Russia in February this year, is leading the initiative.

The initiative was joined by Presidents Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt and Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia, who voted for the resolution, as well as Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, who abstained.

It is expected that the peacekeeping mission will arrive in Moscow and Kyiv at the beginning of June.

“My president made it very clear… (There will be) no negotiations between Ukraine and Russia until the Russians leave our territory within its internationally recognized borders,” Ukrainian Ambassador to South Africa Lyubov Abravitova said in a statement.

At the same time, she added that “we will receive all delegates and will communicate with them.”

A spokesman for the Russian embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The London-based Brazzaville Foundation convened the peacekeeping mission in part to “secure agreements for the release of critical commodities such as grain and fertilizer to be sent to Africa,” it said in a May 16 statement.

Africa’s most vulnerable populations have been hit hard by war-induced food and energy prices.

In response to the African plan, a spokesman for the US State Department said it would “welcome any successful efforts to persuade (Russian President) Vladimir Putin to end his war of territorial aggression.”