Ramaphosa Touts Peace Plan At Russia-Africa Summit

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, speaking at the Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg, states that he hopes that "engagement and negotiation can bring about an end to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine", and that "African leaders look forward to engaging with [Putin] further on peace plan to end Ukraine war." Livestream of summit can be found here.

• The South African gov't has found itself in a difficult position recently, with the announcement earlier in July that President Vladimir Putin would not travel to the BRICS summit in Johannesburg coming as a major relief. If he had made the trip, the South African authorities would have been obliged to detain Putin due to the International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued against the Russian leader.
• Other African leaders also pressed Putin to consider the African peace plan for Ukraine as concerns on the continent mount regarding the impact on food security following the collapse of the Black Sea Grain Initiative (a point raised directly with Putin by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi). Alongside proposals made by Brazil, the African plan may end up proving more acceptable to Ukraine and the West than those put forwards by China, which NATO nations view as a largely unreliable broker in the conflict.