South Africa accuses Ukraine envoy of being ‘undiplomatic’

South Africa has accused the Ukrainian ambassador to the country of using “undiplomatic” ways to seek an audience with President Cyril Ramaphosa over the ongoing Russian invasion of the eastern Europe country.

Ambassador Liubov Abravitova says she was forced to use Twitter to request a meeting with the president.

She accused the South African authorities of ignoring her numerous requests to meet Mr Ramaphosa and other ministers.

“Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, I did not have any requested meeting with South African government officials. My people are under brutal attack from Russians now,” Ms Abravitova posted on 10 April.

Clayson Monyela, a senior official of the South African foreign ministry, however, denied the envoy’s claims, saying she had already held meetings with several government officials.

“Ambassador, you know this is wrong and undiplomatic. We’ve long made a request for HE Cyril Ramaphosa to speak to your president. You are not responding,” Mr Monyela replied on Twitter.

The envoy defended her tweet, saying: “I don’t only have no choice, I have no time. My people are dying, tortured, raped.”

South Africa has faced criticism its neutral stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Last week, the country abstained from a UN General Assembly vote that sought to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council.