MOSCOW, March 10. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday spoke by phone with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to discuss the situation in Ukraine, the Kremlin said in a statement.

"At the request of Cyril Ramaphosa, the Russian president reviewed the reasons for and goals of the special military operation to protect Donbass and the situation about the talks with representatives of the Ukrainian government," the statement said. "The President of the RSA expressed support for the political and diplomatic efforts that are being made."

The leaders agreed to continue contacts.

On February 24 Putin announced a special military operation in response to a request for help by the heads of the Donbass republics. He stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories, but aims to demilitarize and denazify the country. The first Russian-Ukrainian talks to settle the situation took place in the Gomel Region on February 28 and lasted five hours. The second round took place in Belovezhskaya Pushcha on March 3.

The third round of Russian-Ukrainian talks, which were held in Belarus on March 7, didn’t bring the desired results, representatives of both Moscow and Kiev said. Both sides expressed their readiness to continue negotiations and noted positive developments in the issue of humanitarian corridors. The sides haven’t yet announced the date and place of the next meeting, but, according to a member of the Russian delegation, State Duma Committee on International Affairs Chairman Leonid Slutsky, it will be held in Belarus in the near future.