Russian hypersonic and cruise missiles hit Kiev on Friday as a high-ranking delegation of African leaders and top officials arrived in Ukraine to debate peace options.
Emergency sirens sounded in Kiev as dignitaries including the presidents of South Africa, Senegal, Zambia and the Comoros visited Bucha, a suburb of Kiev, where the bodies of murdered civilians – some bearing signs of torture – were found lying within the streets last yr after the withdrawal of Russian troops from this area.
During their stay in Bucza, African officials placed candles under a small monument in front of the church of St. Andrew, near one of the places where the mass grave was discovered.
Soon after, sirens began wailing in Kiev. Mayor Vitaly Klitschko reported an explosion within the Podolski district, one of the town’s oldest districts.
![From right, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Union of the Comoros President Azali Assoumani, Senegalese President Macky Sall and Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema (bottom) attend a ceremony to commemorate the Bucha mass grave site on the outskirts of Kiev, Ukraine, Friday, June 16, 2023.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000012774578.jpg?w=1024)
“Russian missiles are a message to Africa: Russia wants more war, not peace,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted.
The Ukrainian Air Force said it shot down six Russian Kalibr cruise missiles, six Kinzhal hypersonic ballistic missiles and two reconnaissance drones.
No deaths have been reported.
![A medic helps an injured resident in a residential area hit by a Russian missile attack in Kyiv region, Ukraine January 16, 2023.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000012779822.jpg)
![View of a residential area hit by a Russian missile attack, in Kiev region, Ukraine, January 16, 2023.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000012780093.jpg)
![This photo shows the aftermath of a Russian air attack on a manufacturing plant where visually impaired people were working until it was shut down due to Russian attacks, in Kiev, Ukraine, May 30, 2023.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000012719889-1.jpg?w=1024)
![A woman cries while carrying her baby as she leaves the scene of a Russian missile attack that destroyed her home in Stari Petrivtsi near Kiev, Ukraine, Friday, June 16, 2023.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000012784043.jpg?w=1024)
Nevertheless, two children and an elderly woman were injured within the attack, and greater than 30 houses were damaged within the Kiev region by airstrikes, local police chief Andriy Nebytov said.
On the eve of the African delegation’s visit to several regions of Ukraine, rockets rained down, while Kiev’s forces continued the recently launched counter-offensive, which has already resulted within the recapture of at the very least several settlements.
Russian shelling killed two people and wounded two others in Kherson, and in a separate incident a person was injured within the Zaporizhia region.
African leaders were then because of travel to Russia and meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg on Saturday – a move Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has questioned.
“It’s their decision, how logical it’s, I actually don’t understand,” he told reporters at a joint press conference with his guests.
Zelensky said after a gathering with African dignitaries that peace talks with Russia can be possible only after Moscow completely withdrawn from the occupied territories of Ukraine.
“Allowing any negotiations with Russia now that the occupier is on our soil means freezing the war, freezing all the things: pain and suffering,” Zelensky said during a press conference.
“We want an actual peace and, consequently, an actual withdrawal of Russian troops from all our independent land,” he added.
![Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and South African President Kirill Ramaphosa hold a joint press conference with other African leaders](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000012791867.jpg?w=1024)
Zelensky made it clear that Ukraine is sticking to its own 10-point “peace formula”, first introduced in November, which relies on Russia’s complete withdrawal. But he invited African leaders to attend a world peace summit this summer.
The Kremlin downplays the probabilities of meaningful peace talks with Kiev, claiming that there are not any conditions for a peace process, but that it’s able to listen and open to outside initiatives.
“President Putin was and is open to any contacts to debate possible scenarios for resolving the Ukrainian problem,” Russian state news agency Interfax said, quoting Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
With postal wires