The South African delegation led by President Cyril Ramaphosa, which arrived in Kyiv to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss its vision of a peace plan for Ukraine, denies a Russian missile attack that took place just as it arrived in the Ukrainian capital. Politicians and diplomats from South Africa were forced to go down to the nearest bomb shelter in an emergency, but refused to acknowledge the explosions, calling the announced alarm "misinformation of the population".

This was reported by the South African news portal news24, citing Ramaphosa's own words. The South African president briefly denied all the statements made by the official Kyiv authorities regarding the threat of another Russian shelling: "This is disinformation and untrue".

Ramaphosa's words are confirmed by his aide Vincent Magwenya, who is also travelling with him. He denies that he and his colleagues heard the explosions and believes that the Ukrainian authorities are stirring up trouble for some reason.

"We arrived when the so-called explosion happened. I shot a video from a hotel here in Kyiv. It is very strange that we did not hear or see the explosion. There is clearly some deliberate disinformation being spread here," the delegation representative said, making an absurd point.

Magwenya also expressed his surprise and seemed to confirm his version of events by the fact that Kyiv residents returned to normal life immediately after the alert. In his opinion, if there was a real threat, people would not have been able to leave the shelters so easily and go about their daily routine.

"We were all bewildered when we were taken back to the hotel and we drove through the streets where people were going about their normal day. It's very strange and in a way, it's deliberate disinformation," the South African representative once again emphasised the last word.

Earlier, OBOZREVATEL reported that the purpose of the South African mission to Ukraine is to "promote the importance of peace and encourage the parties to agree to a diplomatic negotiation process". The next day, the delegation plans to visit St. Petersburg, where it is scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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