Kremlin says Putin open to any contacts on 'Ukrainian problem'

The African delegation was due to hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday before meeting Putin in St Petersburg on Saturday.

The Kremlin said on Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is still open to any contacts to discuss a resolution of the Ukraine conflict, Russian news agencies reported.

The comments came on the eve of a visit by African leaders to present a new peace initiative to Putin, nearly 16 months after he launched Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "President Putin was and is open to any contacts to discuss possible scenarios for solving the Ukrainian problem," Interfax quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.

Russia has long said it is open to negotiations, but says Ukraine must recognise the "new realities" on the ground, where its forces control some 18% of Ukrainian territory. Moscow claimed last autumn to have annexed four regions in eastern and southern Ukraine as well as the Crimea peninsula, which it seized in 2014.

Ukraine says its own peace plan, which envisages the withdrawal of Russian troops from all Ukrainian land, must be the basis for any settlement of the war. The

African delegation was due to hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday before meeting Putin in St Petersburg on Saturday.