The First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in the wee hours of the morning on the 2nd of May 2023 (IST) extended her apologies for the Hinduphobic cartoon that was posted by the official Defence of Ukraine Twitter handle.
“We regret @DefenceU depicting #Hindu goddess #Kali in distorted manner. #Ukraine &its people respect unique #Indian culture&highly appreciate🇮🇳support.The depiction has already been removed.🇺🇦is determined to further increase cooperation in spirit of mutual respect&💪friendship”, tweeted Emine Dzheppar.
We regret @DefenceU depicting #Hindu goddess #Kali in distorted manner. #Ukraine &its people respect unique #Indian culture&highly appreciate🇮🇳support.The depiction has already been removed.🇺🇦is determined to further increase cooperation in spirit of mutual respect&💪friendship.
— Emine Dzheppar (@EmineDzheppar) May 1, 2023
On Sunday (April 30), the official Twitter page of the Ministry of Defense kicked up a controversy after it posted artwork which depicted Goddess Kali in an objectionable manner.
“Work of art,” it said in a tweet. The ‘Defense of Ukraine’ handle also posted an illustration of the Hindu deity, wherein Goddess Kali was shown having an ‘upskirt moment’ similar to Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe.
Social media users were aghast at the fact that the official handle of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry chose to mock Hindu religious beliefs without any provocation. The artwork bore an uncanny resemblance to the Hindu deity in terms of the blue skin colour, wreath of skulls and the typical ‘tongue struck out’ pose.
After outrage by netizens, Ukraine Defense Ministry had since deleted the offensive tweet.
