Leaders of several African nations arrived in Ukraine on Friday on a diplomatic tour aimed at encouraging peace negotiations and highlighting the impact of the conflict on their continent. The group, led by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, traveled by train from Poland to Kyiv. He and officials from Senegal, Egypt, Zambia and the Comoros later toured the town of Bucha, visiting a church and the site of a mass grave. Ukrainian officials said in statements that Ukrainian forces shot down Russian missiles fired at Kyiv as the delegates arrived.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ramaphosa held a news conference, at which they agreed to continuing their “engagement.” The delegation will travel to Russia for talks with President Vladimir Putin on Saturday.
Putin, in an address to Russian business elites at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, said Ukraine was taking heavy losses in the counteroffensive it began this month and would “no doubt” fail, even with the use of units held in strategic reserve. He also attacked Zelensky, calling him a “disgrace to Jewish people.” Putin has long described Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as an effort to “denazify” the country and has often repeated false claims about the prevalence of Nazi sympathies in Ukraine, as part of a message intended to sell the war to Russians. Zelensky is Jewish, and many of his relatives were killed by Nazis in the Holocaust.
Here’s the latest on the war and its impact across the globe.
Amid NATO divisions, U.S. backs incremental step for Ukraine’s entry: The Biden administration said it is “comfortable” with a proposal from Stoltenberg that would permit Ukraine to forgo a formal candidacy process but would not attach a deadline for the country to become a member, Missy Ryan reports. The idea is aimed at bridging a divide within NATO about how swiftly and under what conditions Ukraine should become a member of the military alliance.
U.S. officials said the proposal goes beyond the preferred course of NATO countries that fear Ukrainian membership could intensify the West’s standoff with Russia. But the proposal would still require Ukraine to carry out reforms and, contrary to the wishes of NATO members in Eastern Europe, would not attach any time frame for Ukraine’s accession.
Dan Lamothe and Natalia Abbakumova contributed to this report.
