African Union President and Senegal's head of state Macky Sall on Friday asked Vladimir Putin to "realize" that African countries are "victims" of the conflict in Ukraine at a time of fear of a global food crisis.

"I came to see you to ask you to realize that our countries (...) are victims of this economic crisis," Macky Sall said in Sochi (southern Russia) at the beginning of the meeting with the Russian President.

According to Lusa, the Senegalese head of state, who at the meeting is representing the 53 countries that make up the African Union, also asked for the food sector to be "outside the sanctions" imposed by the West on Russia in retaliation for the Russian military offensive in Ukraine.

"The sanctions against Russia have led to greater severity; we no longer have access to grain from Russia, but especially not to fertilizers either," the Senegalese President pointed out.

Sall stressed that the current situation "really creates serious threats to the food security of the continent."

Vladimir Putin, for his part, did not address this issue in the public part of the meeting.

The Russian President highlighted the Soviet Union's "support" for African countries "in the fight against colonization" and praised the development of Russia-Africa relations.

The Kremlin spokesman said Friday that Putin would give "a full explanation of his views on grain" blocked in Ukrainian ports to his Senegalese counterpart, Macky Sall, now also president of the African Union.

"The president will give a full explanation of his view of the situation regarding Ukrainian grain," Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told reporters.

"[Vladimir Putin] will explain to our guests, our African friends, the de facto situation, the real state of things. He will explain what is happening there that is undermining the ports, what is necessary for the grain to get out and that nobody blocks those ports," he added.

Macky Sall, who currently holds the presidency of the African Union (AU), is in Russia at a time when there are fears of a global food crisis following the Russian offensive in Ukraine, which has led to a surge in grain and oil prices that have surpassed those of the 2011 Arab Springs and the 2008 disruptions.

The UN fears there will be "a wave of famine," especially in African countries that used to import more than half their wheat from Ukraine or Russia.

Despite the warnings, no ships are currently leaving Ukraine, which was the world's fourth largest exporter of corn, on its way to becoming the third largest exporter of wheat, and which alone supplied 50% of the world's sunflower seed and oil trade before the conflict, which entered its 101st day this Saturday.

Moscow claims that the blockade is not its fault, nor a result of the presence of its battle fleet off Ukraine, but rather because Ukrainian ports are undermined by Kiev.

In addition, Russian grain exports are largely blocked because of logistical and financial sanctions imposed by the West to punish Russia for the conflict in Ukraine.

The Kremlin called for the lifting and de-mining of Ukrainian ports to prevent a global food crisis. A "blackmail," according to Kiev.

Macky Sall's services had indicated on Thursday that his trip "is part of the current [African Union] presidency's efforts to contribute to calming the war in Ukraine, and to the release of grain and fertilizer 'stocks', a blockade that particularly affects African countries."