Ukrainians in South Africa outraged after Russian warship arrives in Cape Town

Ukrainian community in South Africa is outraged by the arrival of a Russian warship in Cape Town port at the same time that Russian forces were bombing the city Ukrainekilling and injuring many people, including children.

The Russian warship Smolny, part of the Baltic Fleet, sailed into Cape Town on August 29 and ended its visit on September 1. Its officers met with senior command of the South African Navy, the Russian Consulate General in the city reported on October.

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis told the Daily Maverick that he knew nothing about the visit and that “it is a great moral shame and a stain on this government that it has provided and continues to provide assistance to Putin's Russia.”

The Ukrainian Association of South Africa, referring to the country's declared neutral stance towards the invasion Russia to Ukraine, stressed in a statement: “Accepting those who kill children is not neutrality! South Africa, stop military cooperation with Russia!”

The Ukrainians recalled that on August 30, during the visit of the Russian ship in Cape Town, a Russian guided bomb hit residential building and playground in Ukraine, killing six peopleincluding children, and injuring over a hundred.

Two days after Smolny left, a Russian ballistic missile hit the Military Communications Institute and a hospital in Poltava, killing more than 50 people and wounding at least 253. The next day, Russia bombed the center of Lvivdestroying 50 civilian buildings, including schools and hospitals. Seven people died, including three children.

See also: 53 dead, almost 300 injured. “Five people may still be under the rubble”

The Ukrainian community in South Africa also condemned reports of an imminent visit to South Africa by a Russian Tupolev Tu-160 long-range bomber, saying the plane was “probably responsible for the killing of Ukrainian children in Kharkiv.”

The association encouraged the South African community to “choose democracy over autocracy and stand in solidarity with the rules-based order to help defend Ukraine's sovereignty, its freedoms, protect its citizens and pave the way for a just and lasting peace.”