African leaders begin bid to end war in Ukraine

A sapper inspects a damaged Russian self-propelled artillery vehicle installed as a symbol of war in central Kyiv, Ukraine. Pic/AP

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa arrived in Ukraine on Friday as part of a delegation of African leaders and senior officials seeking ways to end Russia's war, though an air raid in Kyiv during their visit was a grim reminder of the challenge they face.

Ramaphosa's press service said that he was met by a Ukrainian special envoy and South Africa's ambassador at a rail station near Bucha, the Kyiv suburb where bodies of civilians lay scattered in the streets following Russian forces' withdrawal last spring.

The Bucha visit was symbolically significant, as its name has come to stand for the barbarity of Moscow's military since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The brutal Russian occupation of Bucha left hundreds of civilians dead in the streets and in mass graves.

The African delegation also includes senior officials from Zambia, Senegal, Uganda, Egypt, the Republic of the Congo and the Comoro Islands. Ramaphosa said last month that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to separate meetings.

Australia accused of ‘Russophobic hysteria'

Russia accused Australia of "Russophobic hysteria" for canceling the lease on the land where Moscow wanted to build its new embassy, which the Australian government judged to be a security risk because it was too close to Parliament House.

The Parliament passed an emergency legislation blocking the lease on Thursday after Russia won a Federal Court appeal last month against local Canberra authorities' decision to do the same. The Russian Embassy responded on Friday by posting on social media a Russian news agency TASS report of a Kremlin spokesperson 's condemnation of Australia's actions.

"Australia continues to move forward in the main stream of the authors of the Russophobic hysteria and tries to distinguish itself on this path," he said.

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