Ukrainian Ambassador Says African StudentsTrying to Flee Ukraine Did Not Experience Racism
- The Ukrainian ambassador to South Africa, Liubov Abravitova has come to dispel claims that Africans trying to flee Ukraine were racially discriminated against
- Abravitova says the South African students she has spoken to denied the claims and says it was all part of Russia's agenda
- South Africans are convinced that Abravitova is incorrect because of the videos that circulated on social media
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JOHANNESBURG - Liubov Abravitova, the Ukrainian ambassador to South Africa, has disputed accusations that African students and immigrants attempting to leave Ukraine were mistreated.
In a joint media briefing with the United States of America Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Todd Haskell on Thursday 3 March, Abravitova says they were roughly 16 000 African students in Ukraine at the time of the invasion by Russia.
Source: Getty Images
Abravitova said she had spoken to South Africans attempting to flee the country and inquired about racial discrimination. This was apparently refuted by the students she had engaged with, reports TimesLIVE.
She blamed the news of the racial discrimination on Russia and misinformation.
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“The tradition of Russian disinformation and making the narrative out of that is also big and it has its input and we feel it,” said Abravitova.
However, there have been multiple reports from Africans who were in Ukraine that stated that they were met with racial tensions when they tried to leave Ukraine.
Abravitova went on to say that she will not accept Ukraine as a racist country and claimed that Africans who are still stuck in Ukraine have told their governments that there are not experiencing racism, according to a report by The Citizen.
“If you check all the social media, we see students who are still in Ukraine in cities that are under attack called their governments to help them, and they say, listen we are here, we are black people and we don’t experience any racism, just help us,” explained Abravitova.
Mzansi says Africans were racially profiled
@UnmovedLee said:
"Of course. Yet another white person invalidating the experiences of black people at white hands. What's new?"
@Vuyograms said:
"Have they ever admitted to anything? Let's wait for the Ambassador to retire, then maybe we can get some confessions."
@Mofokana said:
"She was there? Let’s wait for SA students to come back home and we will put this matter on the top of the agenda so that someone must publicly apologize."
@Mlandzeni1 said:
"Unfortunately for her, there's video evidence to prove her wrong."
@JacquieTK said:
"We saw the videos remember those blacks are not written South Africa pr Nigerian on their forehead."
Ukrainian Ambassador says it is a struggle to get South Africans to rally behind Ukraine amid Russian invasion
Briefly News previously reported that Ukrainian Ambassador Liubov Abravitova who is stationed in Pretoria says she is having a difficult time rallying South Africa behind her country in the midst of the Russian invasion.
Like other ambassadors across the globe who are trying to get other nations to stand with Ukraine in the time of war, Abravitova says South Africa still shows affection to Russia.
Abravitova says there is barely any recognition of Ukraine's plight from Mzansi's locals and believes this could be based on the shared history between Russia and South Africa in the fight against the apartheid, reports News24.
Source: Briefly News
