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According to daily mail South Africa president Cyril Ramaphosa spoke with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts by phone. The report stated that they agreed to host 'an African leaders' peace mission' in Moscow and Kyiv
Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky have both agreed to separate meetings with a delegation of African heads of state to discuss a possible plan to end the war in Ukraine, according to South Africa's president.
The Russo-Ukrainian War, previously referred to as the Ukrainian crisis in its early stages, is an ongoing international conflict between Russia, alongside Russian-backed separatists, and Ukraine, which began in February 2014.
Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine and supported pro-Russian separatists fighting the Ukrainian military in the Donbas war.
Beginning in 2021, Russia built up a large military presence near its border with Ukraine, including within neighbouring Belarus. Russian officials repeatedly denied plans to attack Ukraine.
Russian president Vladimir Putin criticized the enlargement of NATO and demanded that Ukraine be barred from ever joining the military alliance. He also expressed irredentist views and questioned Ukraine's right to exist.
Russia recognized the DPR and LPR as independent states in February 2022, with Putin announcing a "special military operation" in Ukraine and subsequently invading the region.
The invasion was internationally condemned; many countries imposed sanctions against Russia and increased existing sanctions. Russia abandoned an attempt to take Kyiv in early April 2022 amid fierce resistance.
From August, Ukrainian forces began recapturing territories in the north-east and south as a result of counter-offensives. In late September, Russia declared the annexation of four partially-occupied regions in southern and eastern Ukraine, which was internationally unrecognized. It spent the winter conducting failed offensive operations in the Donbas, and in the spring dug into positions for an anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive.