Not less than two explosions rocked Kiev on Friday and air raid sirens wailed as African leaders launched a peacekeeping mission hoping to mediate between Ukraine and Russia.
The African delegation, which incorporates the leaders of South Africa, Senegal, the Comoros and Egypt, was scheduled to fulfill with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday, followed by talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg.
A Reuters witness in downtown Kiev said he heard two explosions.
Mayor Vitaly Klitschko also informed about explosions within the central district of Podil and warned that more missiles were heading towards the capital.
One other Reuters correspondent within the capital spotted a plume of smoke from two missiles within the air.
It will not be clear whether these missiles were fired by Russia or by Ukrainian air defenses.
![South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Ukraine's Attorney General Andriy Kostin visit a mass grave site in the city of Bucha, during a Russian attack on Ukraine, outside Kiev, Ukraine, June 16, 2023.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/2023-06-16T091145Z_52195805_RC27K1AYCC81_RTRMADP_3_UKRAINE-CRISIS-AFRICA-BUCHA.jpg?w=1024)
A Reuters television crew saw African leaders arrive in Kiev in a convoy of cars and enter a hotel to make use of an air raid shelter.
The leaders began their visit by traveling to Bucha near Kiev, which is one among several places where, based on Ukraine, large-scale atrocities were committed by Russian troops after a full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Russia denies the allegations.
![Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema visits a church at the site of a mass grave in the city of Bucha, during a Russian attack on Ukraine, outside Kiev, Ukraine June 16, 2023.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/2023-06-16T091321Z_2058182949_RC27K1AVANFV_RTRMADP_3_UKRAINE-CRISIS-AFRICA-BUCHA.jpg?w=1024)
The African peacekeeping mission, which incorporates South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Senagal President Macky Sall, may propose quite a lot of “confidence-building measures” during initial mediation efforts, based on a draft framework document seen by Reuters.
The document states that the aim of the mission is to “promote the importance of peace and encourage the parties to conform to a diplomatic negotiating process.”
These measures may include the withdrawal of Russian troops, the removal of tactical nuclear weapons from Belarus, the suspension of the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Putin, and the easing of sanctions.
![Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema, Senegalese President Macky Sall, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbuly visit a mass grave site in the city of Bucha, Ukraine, June 16, 2023.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/2023-06-16T084809Z_1929017635_RC27K1A0C9K8_RTRMADP_3_UKRAINE-CRISIS-AFRICA-BUCHA.jpg?w=1024)
A cease-fire agreement could follow and would need to be accompanied by negotiations between Russia and the West, the document said.
The mission begins shortly after the beginning of the Ukrainian counter-offensive, which pushed back Russian forces in some areas, although Kiev has only regained a fraction of the territory occupied by Russian forces in Ukraine.
Kiev claims that the idea for a possible settlement of the war should be its own peace initiative, which provides for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian lands.