Russian President Vladimir Putin promised on Thursday that six African countries will receive free grain in the coming months.

This happened at a summit in the Russian city of St. Petersburg.

Here, Putin is visited by a number of African leaders.

According to the president, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Eritrea, Mali, Somalia and Zimbabwe will receive between 25,000 and 50,000 tonnes of grain within the next three to four months.

This will help make up for the lack of grain exports from Ukraine.

A grain agreement between Russia and Ukraine expired on July 17.

It had previously secured grain shipments from the two countries to global markets - including Africa, which is heavily dependent on grain from the two major exporters.

(Translated using DeepL with additional editing by Kristoffer Grønbæk)