South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has arrived in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, video from the official South Africa presidency Twitter account shows.

He was greeted at a railway station in the Kyiv region by Ukraine's special envoy for Africa and the Middle East, Maksym Subkh, and South African's ambassador to Ukraine.

Ramaphosa is visiting Ukraine as part of the African Peace Mission aimed at a peaceful resolution of the conflict, his office said in a statement Thursday.

“President Ramaphosa has in recent weeks been in conversation with President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation, President Zelenskyy, President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China, leaders of BRICS countries and the Secretary-General of the United Nations regarding efforts to facilitate a peaceful process to the Ukraine-Russia conflict, in line with South Africa’s standing as a non-aligned state,” the statement said.The African Peace Mission comprises the leaders of South Africa, Zambia, the Comoros, Republic of Congo, Egypt, Senegal and Uganda, as representative of a continent that has felt the adverse economic impact of the conflict.

Later Friday, the African delegation will leave Kyiv en route to St Petersburg, Russia, where they will engage with Putin on Saturday, the statement added.

“The human and negative economic impact and tension arising from the conflict between Ukraine and Russia is a grave situation that affects all of us in an interconnected world," Ramaphosa said in the statement. “The African Peace Mission brings an African perspective and an appeal for a peace process to deliberations that are underway in various parts of the world and within different formations of nations on how to address the conflict in Ukraine and Russia".

Some context: The South African government has come under intense criticism for its stance on Russia’s invasion and has routinely abstained from votes condemning Moscow at the UN General Assembly. While South African leadership has repeatedly stated that they are neutral in the conflict and have frequently called for a negotiated settlement, their actions have come under increasing scrutiny from Western powers.