African Delegation, Including Egypt, Visits Ukraine on Peace Mission

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa looks on before a bilateral meeting as part of the 111th International Labor Conference (ILO) at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, 14 June 2023.  EPA/MARTIAL TREZZINI
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa looks on before a bilateral meeting as part of the 111th International Labor Conference (ILO) at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, 14 June 2023. EPA/MARTIAL TREZZINI
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African Delegation, Including Egypt, Visits Ukraine on Peace Mission

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa looks on before a bilateral meeting as part of the 111th International Labor Conference (ILO) at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, 14 June 2023.  EPA/MARTIAL TREZZINI
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa looks on before a bilateral meeting as part of the 111th International Labor Conference (ILO) at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, 14 June 2023. EPA/MARTIAL TREZZINI

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa arrived in Ukraine on Friday as part of an African peace mission that includes Egypt, the South African presidency said on Twitter.

Ramaphosa is expected to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday and then travel to Russia for talks with President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on Saturday.

The South African presidency posted footage of Ramaphosa arriving by train in the Bucha area near Kyiv after travelling via Poland.

Along with Senegal President Macky Sall, Ramaphosa is heading a delegation including leaders from Zambia, the Comoros, and Egypt's prime minister.

The peace mission could propose a series of "confidence building measures" during initial efforts at mediation, according to a draft framework document seen by Reuters.

The document states that the objective of the mission is "to promote the importance of peace and to encourage the parties to agree to a diplomacy-led process of negotiations".

Those measures could include a Russian troop pull-back, removal of tactical nuclear weapons from Belarus, suspension of implementation of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant targeting Putin, and sanctions relief, it indicated.

A cessation of hostilities agreement could follow and would need to be accompanied by negotiations between Russia and the West, the document stated.



DHL Cargo Plane Crashes into a House in Lithuania, Killing at Least 1

A Lithuanian rescuer walks past the wreckage of a cargo plane following its crash near the Vilnius International Airport in Vilnius on November 25, 2024. (Photo by Petras MALUKAS / AFP)
A Lithuanian rescuer walks past the wreckage of a cargo plane following its crash near the Vilnius International Airport in Vilnius on November 25, 2024. (Photo by Petras MALUKAS / AFP)
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DHL Cargo Plane Crashes into a House in Lithuania, Killing at Least 1

A Lithuanian rescuer walks past the wreckage of a cargo plane following its crash near the Vilnius International Airport in Vilnius on November 25, 2024. (Photo by Petras MALUKAS / AFP)
A Lithuanian rescuer walks past the wreckage of a cargo plane following its crash near the Vilnius International Airport in Vilnius on November 25, 2024. (Photo by Petras MALUKAS / AFP)

A DHL cargo plane crashed into a house Monday morning near Lithuania's capital, killing at least one person.
The head of the country's police said the plane crashed shortly before landing at Vilnius airport.
“It fell a few kilometers before the airport, it just skidded for a few hundred meters, its debris somewhat caught a residential house," said Police Commissioner-General Renatas Požėla. "Residential infrastructure around the house was on fire, and the house was slightly damaged, but we managed to evacuate people.”
Lithuanian’s public broadcaster LRT, quoting an emergency official, said two people had been taken to the hospital after the crash, and one was later pronounced dead.
The Lithuanian airport authority identified the aircraft as a DHL cargo plane arriving from Leipzig, Germany. It posted on the social platform X that city services including a fire truck were on site.
Flight-tracking data from FlightRadar24, analyzed by The Associated Press, showed the aircraft made a turn to the north of the airport, lining up for landing, before crashing a little more than 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) short of the runway.
Authorities did not immediately offer a cause for the crash, which happened just before 5:30 a.m local time. Weather at the airport was around freezing temperature, with clouds before sunrise and winds around 30 kph (18 mph).
DHL Group, headquartered in Bonn, Germany, did not immediately return a call for comment.
The DHL aircraft was operated by Swiftair, a Madrid-based contractor. The carrier could not be immediately reached.
The Boeing 737 was 31 years old, which is considered by experts to be an older airframe, though that’s not unusual for cargo flights.