In March 2026, UAZA, in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute, launched an 18-month research project on Ukraine’s role in the anti-apartheid struggle.

Key facts on Ukraine’s support of the anti-apartheid movement

Ukraine, one of the 15 Soviet republics, became a founding UN member in 1945. Despite limited foreign policy freedom, it focused on the support for the anti-apartheid movement:

The first cohort of ANC students to pursue university degrees in the Soviet Union began their studies in Kyiv in 1962, and several remained in Ukraine for four more years.

Of the ordinary soldiers in uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK, the ANC’s armed wing) who trained in the Soviet Union, most went to Ukraine.

Between 1963 and 1965, according to historian Vladimir Shubin, 328 recruits received military training near Odesa, on the Black Sea coast in Ukraine. In the mid-1960s, the Soviet Union opened a training center for guerilla fighters in Perevalne, in the Crimean peninsula.

Ukraine prominently advocated for measures against the apartheid government. In 1962, with a powerful declaration of support from the Ukrainian SSR, the UN General Assembly recommended stringent diplomatic, economic, and military sanctions against the South African government.

In 1963, Oliver Tambo, the deputy head of the ANC, wrote a thank you letter to the Foreign Ministry of the Ukrainian Soviet Republic expressing his gratitude on behalf of millions of South Africans for supporting the resolution that called for sanctions implemented by the UN General Assembly in 1962. Tambo, expressed his appreciation for this support of justice and human rights and believed that, Ukrainian efforts would help to end the politics of apartheid.

In 1985, the Ukrainian mission to the UN endorsed comprehensive sanctions against South Africa.

Since 1963 the Ukrainian Soviet Republic has been training ANC cadres

For many years, the representative of the Ukrainian Soviet Republic has been a Vice-Chairman of the UN Special Committee Against Apartheid and has co-sponsored many resolutions against apartheid.