It is unacceptable that some countries side with Russia over the Ukraine war, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Tuesday at a news conference in Pretoria.

"There are some countries that have voted on the side of Russia. That I cannot accept and it is unacceptable," Scholz told a joint news conference with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Pretoria.

South Africa abstained in March from a U.N. resolution condemning Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

It is still important to discuss the effects of the Ukraine war to ensure it will end, Scholz said.

(Reporting by Andreas Rinke, Miranda Murray, writing by Kirsti Knolle; Editing by Paul Carrel)