Ukraine war must end, South African President Ramaphosa tells Putin

The war in Ukraine must end, South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has told Russia's leader Vladimir Putin.

Mr Ramaphosa's remarks came as he met Mr Putin in St Petersburg on Saturday as part of a peace mission with six other African countries.

Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky told the delegation on Friday that he would not enter talks with Russia while they occupied Ukrainian land.

Mr Putin launched last year's invasion and blamed Ukraine for refusing talks.

At the meeting in St Petersburg, Mr Ramaphosa also called for both parties to return their prisoners of war, and said children removed by Russia should be returned home.

He warned Mr Putin of the impacts of the war on Africa, and said it should be settled by diplomacy.

"The war cannot go on forever. All wars have to be settled and come to an end at some stage," he said. "And we are here to communicate a very clear message that we would like this war to be ended."

The war has severely restricted the export of grain from Ukraine and fertiliser from Russia, which has affected African countries in particular and intensified global food insecurity.

But Mr Putin blamed the West for the grain crisis - not the war in Ukraine - as he said only 3% of the grain exports permitted under a UN-sponsored deal to ensure its safe passage through the Black Sea had gone to the worlds poorest countries.

He also praised what he described as Africa's balanced position on the war.

Prior to arriving in Russia, the delegation from South Africa, Egypt, Senegal, Congo-Brazzaville, Comoros, Zambia, and Uganda met Ukrainian leaders.

During a visit to Kyiv on Friday, Mr Ramaphosa warned the war in Europe was affecting between 1.2 and 1.3 billion people in Africa.

After the leaders landed, air raid sirens sounded across Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, which Ukraine's Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said demonstrated that Mr Putin wanted "more war".

During their meeting, Mr Zelensky told the delegation that "an important result of your mission" would be to intercede to bring about the release political prisoners held by Russia.