Whenever I need to check in on the latest statements from Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, Russian state media and numerous Twitter accounts are there to either promote or analyze Putin’s words. Like this ludicrous interview from Tuesday, when Putin said that Ukraine lost 7,000 men, 160 tanks, and 360 armored vehicles in the opening days of the counteroffensive.

But it’s not really necessary to deal with translations from RT, or with news analysts trying to make sense of Putin’s claims—not when there are any number of Republican sources right here in the United States ready to repeat Putin’s every lie and tell me, every day, how the war in Ukraine will inevitably lead to a Russian victory.

(Black is a former Virginia state senator, not an actual U.S. senator, no matter how he styles himself.)

Still, an even more direct means of transmission is available. A group of African leaders on an outreach trip to both Ukraine and Russia this week didn’t need to do anything to get Putin’s latest message, because he delivered it to them in the form of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones all directed at Kyiv while the peace delegation was in the city.