Members of the African peace delegation look at intercepted Russian drones during their trip to Kyiv on June 16.Anton Skyba/The Globe and Mail
A Russian air attack on Kyiv during an African peace mission to the city, including a barrage of cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, was a clear message that Moscow has no interest in negotiating peace, Ukrainian leaders say.
Russia fired 12 missiles at Kyiv on Friday morning while the seven-country African delegation was in the city, Ukrainian officials said. All the missiles and a Russian drone were shot down by Ukrainian air defence, but at least four people were injured by falling debris on the outskirts of the city, the officials said.
The African leaders, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and six other presidents and government leaders, were on the first day of their peace mission to Ukraine and Russia. They were brought into a bomb shelter during the attack, according to a Reuters television crew that witnessed their movement.
Russian missile attacks during foreign leader visits to Kyiv are relatively rare, although it has occasionally happened in the past.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the barrage on Friday was the largest missile attack on Kyiv in weeks. “Russian missiles are a message to Africa: Russia wants more war, not peace,” he said on Twitter.
Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said the missile attack shows that Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to attack any foreign leader who visits Kyiv. “Putin wants to demonstrate that he is willing to disregard the safety of foreign leaders and he actually doesn’t care because he feels complete impunity,” Mr. Yermak said in a message on Telegram.
The two-day African peace mission to Ukraine and Russia was originally intended to include seven African presidents, but three cancelled and sent top officials instead.
One of the cancellations was Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso, who reportedly backed out because he considered the mission too dangerous. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni cancelled because he had tested positive for COVID-19, while Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi cancelled for unknown reasons. The remaining presidents are from South Africa, Zambia, Senegal and Comoros.
Mr. Ramaphosa’s official spokesman, Vincent Magwenya, said the African peace mission “marks the first time Africa has united behind finding a peaceful resolution to a conflict outside our continent.” Africa has been “severely impacted by the war in Ukraine,” he said.
Food and fertilizer prices have soared in many African countries since the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year, and the peace mission is hoping to negotiate agreements to ease the barriers that restrict grain exports from Ukraine and fertilizer exports from Russia.
Mr. Ramaphosa said the peace mission’s main task was to listen to Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Putin to see if there were any potential grounds for compromise. But he may have annoyed his Ukrainian hosts by openly calling for a slowdown in the country’s counteroffensive against the Russian occupying forces, even after he had learned of the Russian missile attack on Kyiv.
His spokesman, Mr. Magwenya, also raised eyebrows in Kyiv by casting doubt on the missile attack, referring to “the so-called explosion” and complaining of “deliberate misinformation.” But later in the day, Mr. Ramaphosa acknowledged that the missile attack was genuine and had been experienced by the African leaders themselves.
“The launching of the missiles today, in our view, does not deter us and has not stopped us from continuing to call for de-escalation,” Mr. Ramaphosa told a news conference with Mr. Zelensky and the African delegation.
“It is precisely this type of event that we saw today – witnessed or even experienced – that makes us call for de-escalation. There are offensives on both sides and we are saying, those must be de-escalated as both countries proceed on the road to peace.”
He cited South Africa’s anti-apartheid hero, Nelson Mandela, as a role model for the two warring sides in Ukraine. “Even when he was in prison and apartheid was at its highest and worst, he said that was the time for us to enter into negotiations,” Mr. Ramaphosa said.
Mr. Zelensky, however, drew the opposite lesson from Mr. Mandela’s life, including his 27 years in prison. “History shows us that Nelson Mandela’s path was to fight, and if you keep fighting and righteousness is on your side, you can remain free, even behind bars or in the bunkers.”
Geoffrey York