Russian President Vladimir Putin is meeting on Saturday with a delegation of African leaders on a peace mission led by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The meeting in St. Petersburg came hours after Putin confirmed that Moscow had begun shipping nuclear weapons to Belarus.
The African delegation ̵1; which also includes the leaders of Senegal, Egypt, Zambia and Comoros – met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev on Friday, when the Ukrainian capital wash it from Russian airstrikes.
After Friday’s session in Kiev, Zelensky Said He saw no outcome from a meeting between the African delegation and Putin, reiterating that peace talks would be possible only if Russia withdrew from Ukrainian territory.
Relations between the South African government – which leads the delegation – and Moscow have drawn particular criticism. among American officialsThe US ambassador to South Africa accused Pretoria of supplying arms to Moscow.
Last month, South African army chief Lawrence Mbatha Visited Moscow will discuss military bilateral relations.
The visit of African delegations to Ukraine and Russia comes at a time of rising tensions between Putin and the West. On Friday, the Russian President Said Moscow has already supplied some nuclear weapons to Belarus and will continue to do so through the summer.