A group of six African leaders plan to travel to Ukraine and Russia "as soon as is possible" to help find a resolution to the war, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Tuesday.
There is not specific timeline for the visit or other details of the initiative drawn up by Zambia, Senegal, the Republic of Congo, Uganda, Egypt and South Africa, Reuters news agency reports.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have welcomed it and "agreed to receive the mission and the African heads of state, in both Moscow and Kyiv," Ramaphosa said during a media briefing with visiting Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Ramaphosa said he had held "separate telephone calls" with Putin and Zelensky over the weekend.
"Principal to our discussions are efforts to find a peaceful resolution to the devastating conflict in Ukraine, its cost in human lives and impact on the African continent," he is quoted as saying by a local outlet.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the African Union (AU) have been briefed on the initiative and welcomed it, he added.
South Africa is among several African nations that have remained non-aligned with either Russia or Ukraine. African countries have been badly hit by rising prices of grain and by the impact to world trade.
