Ukraine's Representation Of The Goddess Kali In A Cartoon Angers People

On April 30, the official Defence of Ukraine Twitter account tweeted a cartoon depicting an offensive image of Goddess Kali alongside a picture of a bomb explosion. In the cartoon, Kali is seen in Marilyn Monroe's renowned posture with her skirt blowing in the wind.

By posting a disrespectful cartoon depicting the Hindu Goddess in an inappropriate pose and later deleting the image due to backlash from Indian viewers, the Defence of Ukraine ended up triggering controversy. 

Russia's response to the Ukrainian cartoon depicting the Goddess was that Ukraine doesn't care about culture or beliefs regardless of religion. Dmitry Polyanskiy, the first deputy representative of Russia to the UN, claimed that Ukrainian soldiers also burn the Quran, and destroy orthodox sacred places. And that Nazism is the only ideology they follow.

After the heavy backlash and strong reaction from several Indians, the Defence of Ukraine removed the tweet and made an official statement. The authorities expressed their profound regret for the demeaning image of Goddess Kali and iterated their respect for India's support.

Ukraine Foreign Minister, Emine Dzhaparova tweeted, “We regret @DefenceU depicting Hindu Goddess Kali in a distorted manner. Ukraine & its people respect uniqueness of Indian culture & highly appreciate its support. The depiction has already been removed. We are determined to further increase cooperation in a spirit of mutual respect& friendship.”