By Chris Muhizi for MCN.
As part of a peace mission with six other African nations, Mr. Ramaphosa met Mr. Putin on Saturday in St. Petersburg. Russian second biggest city.
The African heads of states and representatives earlier before were welcomed by bombardements in Kyiv as they first met Zelenisky to proceed with their stance in stoping the ravaging invasion.
The South African President Ramaphosa and the group leader of other representatives has urged the Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to stop the war in Ukraine.
Volodymr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, informed the group on Friday that he would not engage in negotiations with Russia so long as it was occupying Ukrainian territory.
When Mr. Putin started the invasion last year, he cited Ukraine’s rejection of negotiations.
Mr. Ramaphosa demanded the return of all prisoners of war during the St. Petersburg summit and said that any Russian-removed children should be brought back to their families.
The International Criminal Court has accused Mr. Putin of war crimes for deporting hundreds of Ukrainian children, Russian president interrupted saying that they were protecting them.
As for Africa’s stance on the conflict, he commended it as being reasonable.
The composition of the African delegation, which includes delegates from South Africa, Egypt, Senegal, Congo-Brazzaville, Comoros, Zambia, and Uganda, was chosen expressly for its diversity and balance, and its members come from various parts of Africa and have a range of opinions on the conflict.
Zambia and the Comoros are seen to be closer to the West than South Africa and Uganda, which are thought to have a Russian orientation. Generally neutral nations include Egypt, Senegal, and Congo-Brazzaville.
African nations mainly perceive the conflict as a clash between Kremlin and the Western world.
During broadcast remarks on Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that Moscow agreed with the core ideas of an African peace plan, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was cited by Russian news agencies as stating that it was challenging to implement.
According to Peskov, who was quoted, Russia would keep up communication with the African nations whose representatives on Saturday presented Vladimir Putin with their ideas. He said that Putin expressed interest in the scheme.
According to Lavrov, the African leaders had a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday but did not provide him any messages.
However, he intervened to refute the plan’s underlying premises after the leaders of Comora, Senegal, and South Africa made their presentations. This prevented the round of remarks from all the representatives from continuing.
Putin repeated his stance that the crisis was initiated by the West and Ukraine before Russian military crossed the border in February of last year.
The West, not Russia, he said was accountable for a sudden increase in food prices worldwide at the beginning of last year.