The conflict in Gaza, rather than the war in Ukraine, dominated a fiery press conference in Pretoria following a meeting between Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and his South African counterpart Naledi Pandor.
It was Kuleba’s first visit to South Africa, as he tries to shore up support for Kyiv on a continent where Moscow holds considerable influence. Pretoria has officially remained neutral on the Ukraine war, but critics, including U.S. officials, have accused the South African government of essentially siding with Moscow.
South African Foreign Minister Pandor expressed her desire to see a peaceful, negotiated end to the war in Europe.
“We’re deeply concerned, Minister, about the continuing war between Russia and Ukraine, the continuing loss of lives and the very, very worrying humanitarian situation,” she said.
While refraining from condemning Russia, Pandor repeatedly brought up Israel, saying at one point its response in Gaza was "one of collective punishment."
The South African government position has always been pro-Palestinian, and on Monday an official in the presidency announced Pretoria was recalling its diplomats from Israel.
Pandor also said the government did not appreciate recent comments made by the Israeli ambassador to the country and took a swipe at U.S.
Ambassador Reuben Brigety – who earlier this year accused South Africa of providing arms to Russia, a claim that was never substantiated.
“The ambassador of Israel has been making a number of comments, almost akin to the statements that were made without proof by the United States ambassador a couple of months ago …” she said. “There seems to be a strange practice among some ambassadors in South Africa that they can just say what they like.”
She added that maybe that is because as an African country “they don’t respect us.”
For his part, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba repeatedly used terms Pretoria avoids on the Russian-Ukraine war, referring to the “invasion” and “Russian aggression.”
He noted that as part of the former Soviet Union, Ukraine had supported South Africans’ struggle against apartheid, and stressed that Kyiv is trying to help African countries navigate food insecurity caused by the conflict in Europe.
Kuleba said discussions with Pandor had been positive and “opened a new chapter” in Ukrainian-South African relations.
He also expressed concern over the crisis in the Middle East.
Asked by reporters if the situation in Gaza was drawing the world’s attention away from Ukraine, he cautioned against comparing what is happening in Ukraine and what is happening in the Middle East, saying “people are people everywhere.”
Still, he said it was true that many daily tragedies in Ukraine have become “routine” for media.
“We in Ukraine find it extremely painful to see how the deaths of civilians, the deaths of children, and other mass destruction remains unnoticed,” Kuleba said, “but we understand that this is how the world acts.”
He said while the media’s attention may have shifted, he did not think that Ukraine was receiving less political attention.
