PRETORIA, May 18./TASS/. The South African presidential administration neither confirmed nor denied to TASS on Thursday whether it plans to send a representative to Moscow this coming weekend to coordinate the details of a trip to Russia by an African peace mission to search for ways to settle the Ukrainian conflict.

"If and when there’s a need for us to announce, we will do so," the South African president’s Spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told TASS. He said intensive consultations were underway with the interested parties on various aspects of the planned peace mission trip by African nations to Moscow and Kiev.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on May 16 that Russian and Ukrainian authorities had agreed to receive an African delegation to seek a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Ramaphosa spoke on behalf of six African nations: Egypt, Zambia, the Republic of Congo, Senegal, Uganda and South Africa. When asked to comment on the South African initiative, White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said that the US was ready to support any initiative for a peaceful settlement in Ukraine once it was first supported by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.