African leaders set to meet with presidents of Ukraine, Russia in bid to end war
Zelenskyy urges African leaders to press Putin on release of political prisoners
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-peace-plan-africa-a424799e733280657a352b787b90c07e
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appealed to a group of African leaders to ask his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to free political prisoners from Crimea and beyond — saying it could be an important part of their trip to Russia on Saturday.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has arrived in Ukraine in a delegation of African leaders and senior officials seeking ways to end Kyiv’s 15-month war with Russia. Ramaphosa’s press service said he was met Friday by a Ukrainian special envoy and South Africa’s ambassador at a rail station near Bucha. That's the Kyiv suburb where bodies of civilians lay scattered in the streets following Russian forces’ withdrawal last spring. The African delegation includes senior officials from Zambia, Senegal, Uganda, Egypt, the Republic of the Congo and the Comoro Islands. Ramaphosa said last month that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to separate meetings with the delegation.