South Africa's Ramaphosa tells Putin Ukraine 'war must be settled'

South Africa's president, in Russia as part of a delegation pushing for peace between Kiev and Moscow, told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Saturday that the fighting had to stop.

His delegation put forward a set of principles that the Kremlin deemed "very difficult to implement", a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ruled out talks with Moscow.

The delegation brought the voice of a continent that has badly suffered from repercussions of the Ukraine conflict, particularly with rising grain prices.

"This war must be settled... through negotiations and through diplomatic means," South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa said after talks in the suburbs of Saint Petersburg.

Russian authorities have effectively banned the word "war" to describe their military operation in Ukraine.

Ramaphosa added that his delegation, which has leaders and senior officials from seven African countries, "would like this war to be ended".

Ramaphosa listed 10 principles, which included de-escalation, the recognition of countries' sovereignty, security guarantees for all countries, unimpeded grain exports through the Black Sea and sending prisoners of war and children back to their countries of origin.

The mission included the presidents of South Africa, Senegal, Comoros and Zambia, as well as top officials from Uganda, Egypt and Congo-Brazzaville. 

"Any initiative is very difficult to implement," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by the state-run agency RIA Novosti.

"But President Putin has shown interest in considering it," Peskov said after the leaders held a meeting behind closed doors.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the plan was "not formulated on paper".

Putin had...