'You cannot show your tears to anyone': Ukrainian ambassador to SA Liubov Abravitova

Tears well up in Ukrainian ambassador to SA Liubov Abravitova’s crystal blue eyes when she speaks about the atrocities being committed by the Russian forces in her country. 

But, she says, she cannot show any signs of weakness as millions of her fellow countrymen are pinning their hopes on her to convince world leaders to condemn the Russian invasion and provide support to her war-torn country.

“You have to keep it moving. You cannot show your tears to anyone. You can maybe cry when you are at home but it gives you a lot of courage to see how our people, men and women, are fighting.

“Some are cooking warm food for people and making nets for the soldiers. You think to yourself, I am here, safe and my children are sleeping in a bed. Those children are sleeping in shelters on the floor. You cannot allow yourself to be weak,” said Abravitova, holding back tears.

Abravitova, who arrived in SA in 2017 and was appointed as ambassador in 2020, spoke to TimesLIVE this past week after she made headlines for tweeting about her frustration with the SA government in trying to get a meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa and department of international relations and co-operation (Dirco) minister Naledi Pandor.

Ramaphosa has been contacting world leaders, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping and the US’ Joe Biden, to explain SA’s stance after its decision to abstain from a UN General Assembly vote to condemn Russia and recently, a vote to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council.

The interview took place at the heavily guarded Ukranian embassy in Pretoria on the 49th day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The mother of two, who is originally from Odesa in the southern part of Ukraine, said: “The war was not started on February 24, it was started in 2014. Before the invasion we had already lost 14,000 Ukrainians.

“The number of people fleeing for safety is fluid. With a population of about 42-million people it’s estimated that 10-million have already displaced. Half of the child population in the Ukraine was displaced to places like Poland, Romania, Moldova, Slovakia, Hungary and Germany, among others.”

She said Russian troops have attempted to take over the capital city of Kyiv and a number of smaller surrounding cities like Irpin and Bucha. “They hate us and they are so brainwashed and for 20 years they were living without the freedom of speech and media, had no access to information and believe that Putin is doing the right thing.”

She said the Russian government did not anticipate that the war would last this long.

“They [Russia] were ready for three days of the war. When we showed our resistance and the world showed unity and started to supply the military equipment and assistance, it then became evident that the war will not be ending any time soon.”

Abravitova also believes that the aim of the war is now about “Putin’s image and ego”. “That’s why it’s so hard to predict what will happen.”

At the heart of the war, she said, were imperialist sentiments of Russia. “The ideology that Russia is trying to set up in the minds of the population is that Russia has always been a superpower and that when the USSR that united the 15 countries collapsed, it was a very big mistake. They are trying to keep their influence in these countries.”

Putin’s modus operandi is to go into a country under the guise that he is protecting Russian-speaking people in their country, she claimed.

“People are sitting without water, electricity and food and even with humanitarian aid from other European countries, we are not able to get it through, so we believe that the people are starving there.”

On the negotiations, which have been taking place for a while, Abravitova says: “I believe we have had nine rounds of negotiations, both on the levels of ministers of foreign affairs, two contact groups negotiating on the border of Belarus, but a ceasefire has not been achieved.

“I believe that when negotiations are happening, you have the ceasefire in order to continue discussions and this shows you the Russian Federation's intention to stop the war.”

She said her government has continued to call for both presidents to meet, agree to a ceasefire and the withdrawal of the Russian troops from Ukraine. “I still believe in a diplomatic solution and with the pressure of our partners and sanctions, at least Russia will be brought to the negotiation table and will make a ceasefire.”

It will take more sanctions and united global support for peace to be reached, she said. “Many countries are trying to keep a negotiations corridor for Putin because you just don’t know what to expect from him and afterwards.”

Referring to SA’s non-aligned stance, Abravitova says she has made continuous attempts to get an audience with Ramaphosa and Pandor because, “neutrality doesn’t mean you are indifferent”.

“Our speaker of parliament invited your speaker of parliament after Bucha to come and see for herself what happened in the Kyiv region, so you may not take a position but you can come and see for yourself what is happening.”

She said if National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula accepts the invitation, she will facilitate the visit. She has requested to meet several other ministers to ask for assistance with aid. 

On February 24 when the war broke out, she immediately requested Dirco to organise a meeting of ministers and presidents. She has met with Ramaphosa’s special adviser on international relations, Maropene Ramokgopa, deputy minister Alvin Botes and Dirco’s director-general Zane Dangor.

All she wants to tell Ramaphosa is that, “Our people are suffering. Another country came to our country to take our land, to kill, rape and torture our people. This is a violation of all the norms and principles of human rights and international law.”

Abravitova, who has lost friends in the war, said her country is in desperate need of humanitarian aid.

“It hurts personally and every government when it comes to their people but when you are going through this, especially when you are trying to survive. I saw what’s happening in KwaZulu-Natal and how many people are left without houses and many have lost their lives. It makes you re-evaluate your values as a nation. It means every life matters. It also teaches the diplomats, government and everyone that in the interconnected world that we live in, information influences everyone.”

TimesLIVE

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