A delegation of African leaders trying to mediate the conflict in Ukraine told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday that “this war must end” because it is harming the whole world, Reuters writes. Putin has said that Russia is ready to consider any agreement, but Ukraine refuses to start negotiations. He also blamed the West for the food crisis.

The leaders of South Africa, Senegal, Egypt, Zambia, Uganda, the Republic of Congo and the Comoros Islands met with Putin at the 18th-century Constantine Palace in hopes of mediating the war in Ukraine after meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyi in Kyiv on Friday.

Putin has said that Russia is ready to consider any agreement, but Ukraine refuses to start negotiations.

• “We are open to a constructive dialogue with all those who want peace based on the principles of justice and taking into account the legitimate interests of the parties,” Vladimir Putin said, welcoming the “considered approach” to Africa.
• “In Russia, the position of African states regarding maintaining stability is highly respected (…), we support their desire for a pacifist policy,” the Russian president also said.

On Saturday, he told African leaders that Ukraine’s grain exports under the deal, which provides safe passage through the Black Sea, were not helping to solve Africa’s problems with high global food prices, while only 3 percent reached the poorest countries. Putin blamed the food crisis on the actions of Western countries, not what he calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine, Reuters reported.

“This war must end”

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who heads the African delegation, told Vladimir Putin that “the war must end” in Ukraine, AFP reports, Agerpres reports. “The war cannot last forever (…). This war must end,” he said at a meeting between the head of the Kremlin and African mediators in St. Petersburg.

“It is in our common interests that this war ends,” he insisted, stressing that African countries have suffered from this conflict.

In addition to Ramaphosa, the delegation also includes three other presidents: Maki Sall (Senegal), Hakainde Hichilema (Zambia) and Azali Assoumani (Comoros), acting president of the African Union, as well as representatives of Congo, Uganda and Egypt.

“We are here to listen to you, to listen to the voice of the Russian people. We are here to convince the two countries to enter the path of dialogue,” said Comoros President Azali Assoumani.

READ ALSO: Massive Russian missile attack on Kiev, African leaders of the peacekeeping mission were taken to a bomb shelter / They came up with a plan that involves the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine