“We regret…,” Ukraine apologises for Goddess Kali tweet

Kyiv

Ukraine Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova on Tuesday expressed “regret” after an image of a female above blast smoke was tweeted by the country’s defence ministry triggering outrage with social media users pointing out the resemblance of the image to the depiction of Goddess Kali.

The country’s deputy foreign minister Emine Dzhaparova said that Ukraine “regrets” the defence ministry’s depiction of goddess Kali in a “distorted manner” and that the European country “respects unique Indian culture and highly appreciates support from India”.

She added the depiction had been removed.

On April 30, Ukraine’s Defence Ministry tweeted with the caption “Work of art,” and shared a picture of a blast with an improvised picture by Ukrainian artist Maksym Palenko.

In the picture, the artist depicted the blast in a unique yet offensive blend of famous American actress Marilyn Monroe in her ‘flying skirt’ pose with the face and detailing resembling Hindu Goddess ‘Maa Kali’.

After posting the picture, the tweet triggered a massive backlash, forcing the Defence Ministry of Defence to delete the Twitter post.

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Dzhaporava had recently visited India, the first visit by a Ukrainian minister to India since the start of the Ukraine war in February last year. During the visit the Ukranian minister held talks with Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakashi Lekhi.