Overview

• African leaders traveled to Russia to urge Vladimir Putin to help end the war in Ukraine that is negatively impacting countries in Africa
• The leaders met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before talking with Putin in Saint Petersburg, but little progress was made
• Russia's foreign minister said the peace plan proposed by the African delegation would be difficult to implement
• Putin blamed the West and Ukraine for starting the conflict and exacerbating global food prices
• Putin claimed Russia has deployed tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus in response to Western support for Ukraine