PRETORIA, August 1. /TASS/. Africa’s peace mission on Ukraine and Russia are finalizing their joint statement following a recent meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of the mission’s member states, South African Presidential Spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told TASS.

"There's a joint statement being finalized between the Russian Federation and the seven African heads of state leading the peace mission," he said, adding: "It will be distributed to all media."

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Russia had prepared its draft statement and sent it to South Africa.

Putin held a meeting with members of the African peace mission on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg in late July. It was the second meeting in the series, with the first one taking place at the Constantine Palace outside St. Petersburg on June 17. Putin pointed out then that Moscow had never refused to hold talks with Kiev, while Ukraine had dumped a draft agreement initialed in Istanbul in March 2022 into "the landfill of history." The president also showed the document to other participants in the meeting.