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Kyiv. – Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have agreed to separate meetings with a delegation of leaders from six African countries to discuss a possible plan to end the war in Ukraine, South Africa’s president said on Tuesday.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said he spoke with Putin and Zelenskyy by phone over the weekend and they each agreed to host “an African leaders peace mission” in Moscow and Kyiv, respectively.
“Principal to our discussions are efforts to find a peaceful resolution to the devastating conflict in the Ukraine,” Mr Ramaphosa said.
The leaders of Zambia, Senegal, Republic of Congo, Uganda and Egypt would make up the delegation along with Ramaphosa, he said in a statement.
Mr Putin and Zelenskyy gave him the go-ahead to “commence the preparations,” the South African leader said.
Meanwhile a US-supplied Patriot air defence system was damaged on Tuesday as it helped Ukraine to take down an “exceptional” overnight barrage on Kyiv.
The US$1 billion (weapon, the most advanced of its kind produced by the West, was part of a protective barrier on the city that shot six Russian hypersonic missiles out of the sky.
It was the first time the Ukrainian capital’s air defences had been tested by an entire volley of Kinzhal missiles, the jewel in the crown of Moscow’s long-range arsenal.
The Kinzhals, or ‘daggers’, were fired in a salvo of 18 projectiles including nine cruise missiles, with many arriving simultaneously in an effort to overwhelm the city’s defences. Russian officials including PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin have touted the Kinzhal as unstoppable.
Kyiv residents were woken at 3am and loud booms continued throughout for several hours as tracers from air defence systems lit up the night.
The attack “was exceptional in its density — the maximum number of attack missiles in the shortest period of time,” said Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s city military administration.
Colonel Yurii Ihna, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Air Force, added: “Six ‘Dagger’ missiles is quite an impressive indicator.”
“You see how many they launch at the capital, which is why Kyiv is protected by serious means of air defence. The most important thing is that everything that flew to the Kyiv region was destroyed.”
At least three people were injured, according to Vitali Klitschko, Kyiv’s mayor, after debris rained down on the city, including on its zoo, from the successful intercepts.
Russia’s defence ministry later claimed that its barrage had destroyed a Patriot air defence system. The Ukrainian capital is protected by at least two of the weapons, one provided by the US earlier this spring and the other by Germany. A total of four have been promised.
The Patriot is capable of tracking several targets at once and the only system in Kyiv’s arsenal that can knock out hypersonic missiles, which can reach more than 6 000 km/h, or five times the speed of sound. – AP-The Telegraph
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