A group of prominent African leaders is scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denied the delegation’s request for talks between Moscow and Kyiv on Friday.
According to AFP, the diplomatic team traveled to Kyiv on Friday to express the African continent’s concerns about the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, particularly rising grain prices, with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa insisting that “peace should be achieved through negotiations.”
During a joint press conference with the delegates, Zelensky, however, ruled out any talks with Moscow, telling reporters, “I clearly stated several times at our meeting that to allow any negotiations with Russia now that the occupier is on our land is to freeze the war, to freeze pain and suffering.”
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Shortly after the African leaders arrived, air raid sirens were heard across the country as Russian missiles were identified, forcing the delegates to seek refuge in the capital.
According to Zelensky, the attack on Kyiv during the delegation’s visit demonstrated that Putin either did not control his forces or was “irrational.”
Ramaphosa, on the other hand, saw the barrage as proof that both sides ought to halt fighting.
“It is precisely that type of event that we saw today… that makes us call for de-escalation,” Ramaphosa said, quoting Nelson Mandela several times on the need for peace.
Zelensky said in a statement that he had asked the leaders to express their opinions on how to end the “crimes committed by Russia” and strive toward food security.
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“But first of all, we must restore the full force of the UN Charter and stop this brutal Russian aggression and free our land,” he added.
The African team had first traveled to Bucha, a village outside of the capital that has become synonymous with alleged Russian war atrocities.
The group contains four presidents: Ramaphosa, Macky Sall of Senegal, Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia, and Azali Assoumani of Comoros, who also serves as the African Union’s Secretary-General.
The leaders of Uganda, Egypt, and Congo-Brazzaville withdrew at the last minute and sent deputies instead.
The meeting took place as Ukraine proclaimed victories in a new counteroffensive, but Putin said on Friday that Kyiv’s forces “stand no chance” in the areas where combat has been more intense.
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Following the attack on Kyiv on Friday, the Ukrainian Air Force claimed to have shot down 12 missiles, six of which were hypersonic.
There was no recorded damage inside the city, but seven individuals were injured, including two children, according to regional police.
“With what happened today, it’s very obvious also to the African leaders how sincere Putin is about stopping the conflict,” said Peter Stano, a spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
Ukrainian officials were also quick to call attention to the strike.
“Russian missiles are a message to Africa: Russia wants more war, not peace,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.
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The African leaders were set to meet Putin in the northwestern Russian city of Saint Petersburg on Saturday.
“In our view it is important to listen very carefully to what both countries have to say, and tomorrow we are now going to listen to President Putin,” Ramaphosa said.
Putin showed little enthusiasm for peace talks on Friday, announcing the deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus while simultaneously branding Zelensky a “disgrace to the Jewish people” in a speech to an annual business gathering in Saint Petersburg.
Russia first announced plans to install tactical nuclear weapons in its ally and neighbor Belarus in March, with Putin claiming Friday that the “first nuclear warheads were delivered to Belarus’ territory.”
He stated that the weaponry were intended to discourage “those who are thinking of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia.”
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Putin also told delegates at the meeting that he had “a lot of Jewish friends” who have told him “that Zelensky is not Jewish, that he is a disgrace to the Jewish people.”
Despite Zelensky’s Jewish ancestry, Moscow has justified its war by claiming it has to “de-Nazify” Ukraine.
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