The South African presidency tweeted that Cyril Ramaphosa arrived in Ukraine on Friday as part of an African peace mission.
Ramaphosa will visit Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday and meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on Saturday.
The South African presidency uploaded footage of Ramaphosa arriving from Poland by rail in Bucha, near Kyiv.
International investigators are gathering evidence in Bucha and other sites where Ukraine claims Russian troops committed mass atrocities after their full-scale invasion in February 2022. Russia rejects them.
Ramaphosa leads a group alongside Senegal President Macky Sall, Zambia, Comoros, and Egypt’s prime minister.
A draft framework paper seen by Reuters suggests the peace team may offer “confidence building measures” during initial mediation.
“To promote the importance of peace and to encourage the parties to agree to a diplomacy-led process of negotiations” is the mission’s stated goal.
It suggested a Russian troop withdrawal, Belarusian tactical nuclear weapon removal, suspension of an International Criminal Court arrest order against Putin, and sanctions relaxation.
The proposal suggested that Russia and the West negotiate a cessation of hostilities pact.
Kyiv insists that any war settlement must be based on its proposal to evacuate Russian forces from Ukraine.
