President Cyril Ramaphosa has admitted that "diplomacy has failed" in dealing with the escalating Ukraine-Russia crisis – but is adamant that the situation can still be salvaged through mediation by the United Nations (UN) Security Council.

"Clearly diplomacy has failed, but mediation and further engagement is the only way out. There’s no other way out of this conflict," Ramaphosa said on Friday.

Speaking at the Intergovernmental National Litigation Forum in Pretoria, Ramaphosa said it was "not necessary for people to die" and for property to be destroyed when the option of mediation was available.

"I call upon the United Nations Security Council to do their mediation work and if there ever was a time in the world when the United Nations Security Council is to come into its own, this is the time when they must all put their heads together and resolve this conflict so that this war stops," he told the media after that address.

In response to questions from News24 about whether mediation by the UN Security Council was an option, given that it was chaired by a Russian representative, Ramaphosa replied, "It is possible, because even as Russia is chairing, they should still be able to solicit a meeting to happen so that the matter can be discussed," he said, before confirming that South Africa was "on the way" to "getting a discussion going with Russia and the United States".

He confirmed that NATO representatives had sought to engage with him, but gave no further details.