Kyiv, Jun 16 (EFE).- Russian forces launched a series of drone and missile attacks on Kyiv shortly after a delegation of African leaders arrived in the Ukrainian capital on Friday to meet president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“Explosions in the capital (…) Missiles are still flying over Kyiv,” mayor Vitaliy Klitschko wrote on Telegram.

The city’s Military Administration confirmed that air defenses had been activated in the region and urged residents to remain in shelters.

An African peacekeeping mission led by South African president Cyril Ramaphosa arrived in Ukraine for the first stop on a tour that will also take them to Moscow.

The delegation of African leaders is seeking to mediate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

The leaders were in the town of Bucha on the outskirts of Kyiv visiting a mass grave when the explosions rocked the capital.

“Putin ‘builds confidence’ by launching the largest missile attack on Kyiv in weeks, exactly amid the visit of African leaders to our capital. Russian missiles are a message to Africa: Russia wants more war, not peace,” Ukraine’s foreign affairs minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter. EFE

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