Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy again ruled out any negotiations with Russia after meeting African leaders who had come to try to mediate between Kiev and Moscow.
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“Today at our meeting (with the African delegation), I said clearly that allowing any negotiations with Russia now that the occupier is on our country means freezing the war, freezing the pain and suffering,” he said during a joint press conference with African leaders.
Before Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia “long tried to fool everyone with the Minsk peace accords” struck in the past to settle the conflict with Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, but Russia has a new one Prepared offensive against his neighbors, accused Mr. Zelenskyy.
“It is clear that Russia is once again trying to use its old deception tactics. But Russia will no longer be able to fool the world,” he added. “We will not give him a second chance,” he said.
African mediation calls on Ukraine and Russia to “de-escalate”.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday urged Ukraine and Russia to “de-escalate” during a visit to Kiev with a delegation of African leaders who had come to try to mediate between that country and Moscow.
In Russia, President Vladimir Putin, for his part, assured that the Ukrainian counter-offensive on the front had “no chance” of success.
“There has to be a de-escalation on both sides,” Ramaphosa said in a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the afternoon.
But at the end of the meeting, he again ruled out “any negotiations” with Moscow.
“Today at our meeting (with the African delegation) I made it clear that allowing any negotiations with Russia now that the occupier is on our country means freezing the war, the pain and suffering,” added Mr. Zelenskyy .
The African delegation arrived in Kiev in the morning. Shortly after, the capital region was attacked by a Russian missile attack that set off anti-aircraft sirens and subsequent explosions, injuring at least seven people, according to Ukrainian police.
“Today when we were here we heard about rocket attacks and this kind of hostilities are not good for peace,” the South African President also said at the press conference.
After Kiev, the African mediator has to make her way to Russia, where she will meet Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg (north-west) on Saturday.
The African delegation includes four presidents – Cyril Ramaphosa (South Africa), Macky Sall (Senegal) and Hakainde Hichilema (Zambia), as well as Azali Assoumani (Comoros), who heads the African Union – and representatives from Congo, Uganda and Egypt.
She started her stay in Kiev with a visit to Boutcha, the South African Presidency said on Twitter, releasing several videos of her trip to that Kiev suburb where the Russian army has been accused of massacres of civilians. The Russian missile attack on the Kiev region followed shortly thereafter.
“Finding a Way of Peace”
NATO welcomed this mediation later in the day, but warned that only a “just” solution, viewing Russia as the aggressor, would work.
The Ukrainian Air Force announced in the morning that it shot down 12 Russian missiles, including six hypersonic Kinyals, over the capital region.
According to local police, when Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported no damage in the capital, the rocket splinters caused seven injuries, including two children, in the capital’s region.
The head of Ukraine’s diplomacy immediately described these Russian attacks as a “message to Africa”. “Russia wants more war, not peace,” Dmytro Kouleba said on Twitter, referring to “the biggest rocket attack on Kiev in weeks.”
“What happened today shows African leaders how sincere Putin is in ending the conflict and how considerate he is of all international efforts to end this conflict,” commented Peter Stano, spokesman for chief of European diplomacy Josep Borrell, in Brussels in the same direction.
At the same time, Putin announced on Friday that he had transferred the first nuclear weapons to Belarus, thereby concretizing the deployment announced by Moscow in March.
The South African President’s spokesman, Vincent Magwenya, told him in a video posted to Twitter that the mission was going “fairly well and as planned,” adding that the delegation expects to start talks with Mr Zelenskyy “to have a find the way to peace”. Conflict”.
Mr. Putin was already in St. Petersburg for an economic forum on Friday, where he extensively criticized Ukraine and reiterated his desire to “denazify” his neighbor, who has been on the offensive in the south for a week and a half.
“The Ukrainian armed forces have no chance either there or in the other areas,” Putin decided, describing Mr. Zelenskyy as a “disgrace to the Jewish people.”
small chance
The African peace mediation, which Pretoria announced last month, comes amid intensifying fighting on the front lines and Russian bombing of Ukrainian cities.
However, it has been weakened by the last-minute resignation of some of its members, and according to several experts, its chances of success are slim.
In Warsaw, security guards of the South African President who were to accompany him to Ukraine were arrested upon arrival at the airport, leading to a diplomatic incident and accusations of “racism” against the Polish authorities.
The Africa mission is the latest in a series of unsuccessful diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.
Africa is severely affected by rising food prices and the impact of war on world trade.
South Africa, criticized for its proximity to Moscow, has refused to condemn Russia since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, claiming to take a neutral stance and want to promote dialogue.
The Kremlin is attempting to lure African leaders into its camp by positioning Russia as a bulwark against Western imperialism and accusing the West of sanctions blocking exports of vital Russian grain and fertilizers to Africa.
Ukraine is also trying to lobby African leaders, who have been less unanimous in condemning the Russian invasion than the major Western powers.
African leaders “will not be able to offer us anything to resolve the conflict,” Ukrainian political analyst Anatoliy Oktysiouk told AFP in an interview.
“They cannot play the role of mediators. They have little political clout, they have no clout,” he continued.