'More Used to Seeing Conflict in Africa and Asia': Prince William Criticised for 'Racist' Remarks

Prince William is facing massive online criticism for remarking that the British people are “more used to seeing conflict in Africa and Asia”.

“It’s very alien to see this in Europe,” the 39-year-old William said during a visit to the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in London on Wednesday, according to the Evening Standard. Prince William was visiting the centre with his wife Kate.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were there to express their solidarity with the Ukrainians and even reportedly offered volunteers trays of homemade sweets. The “racist” utterances by the 39-year-old heir struck a tender nerve with many social media users around the world.

In India, several users reminded William about the “war and bloodshed” initiated by the British when it led a colonial government on the subcontinent.

Other social media users reminded William of the more recent conflicts in Europe, including in erstwhile Yugoslavia as well as Germany (the Second World War) in the 20th century. The prince has lived through conflicts in Kosovo (1998-99) and Yugoslavia (1991-2001).

Another social media user accused William of “dehumanising” the pain of black and brown people.

The backlash faced by the British royal comes days after sections of the American media faced criticism for what some have described as “racist” coverage of the events in Ukraine.

CBS' senior foreign correspondent Charlie D’Agata was forced to apologise for his remarks after he stated on air that people hadn’t expected conflict to break out in a “relatively civilised, relatively European” country such as Ukraine.

“This isn’t a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan, that has seen conflict raging for decades,” D’Agata said while reporting from Ukraine this month.

“This is a relatively civilised, relatively European - I have to choose those words carefully too - city, one where you wouldn’t expect that or hope that it’s going to happen,” he added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced special military operations aimed at demilitarisation and “de-Nazification” of Ukraine on 24 February. The mission, undertaken in coordination with the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s republics, began after weeks of escalating shelling, sniper and sabotage attacks by Ukrainian forces against the Donbass militias and settlements, and days after Russia formally recognised DPR and LPR as independent states.

Russia’s military operation has attracted strong criticism from the US, the European Union and other western allies, which have slapped wide-ranging economic sanctions against Russian financial institutions as well Moscow’s political and military leadership.

Moscow says that Russian forces will immediately halt the military operations on four conditions: first, if Ukrainian forces stop fighting back; second, if Kiev enshrines a neutral status in its constitution; third, if Crimea is acknowledged as Russian territory; and fourth, if the two Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk are recognised as independent states.

After three rounds of talks between Ukraine and Russia designed to defuse the crisis, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that he was ready to discuss the “future of Crimea and Donbass” with Moscow.