Ukraine's UN Ambassador Suggests Russians Get 'Mental Help' After Tweet

Ukraine's United Nations ambassador had a message for Russian officials following a controversial tweet about Ukraine's invasion: seek mental help.

The Russian Foreign Ministry tweeted that the goal of Russia's military action against Ukraine is to actually prevent any war from breaking out there. Ukraine's U.N. ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya suggested the authors of the tweet seek mental help.

While holding a printout of the tweet, Kyslytsya read it aloud at the U.N. meeting in New York.

"Those who posted today, this text—'Foreign Minister Lavrov: The goal of Russia's special military operation is to stop any war that could take place on Ukrainian territory or that could start from there'—Russian embassy in London, retweeted by the Russian Foreign Ministry."

"Let me remind the Russian diplomats that in London, in case of need of mental help, you can dial NHS line 1-1-1," he added. "Thank you."

Kyslytsya then double-downed on his suggestion, saying it isn't only Russian diplomats who need mental assistance, but everyone who agreed with their claim.

Kyslytsya questioned how Russia plans "to stop any war that could take place on Ukrainian territory" while it continues to attack the country.

"Today more than hundreds of Ukrainian cities and villages, attacked and sieged by the aggressor state are on the verge of a humanitarian disaster: the population does not have an access to drinking water, food, medicine, electricity, heating and other basic necessities," Kyslytsya said in a Facebook post following the meeting.

"The Russian occupiers are killing Ukrainian children," he continued. "Consciously and cynically. At least 38 children have been already killed since Russia's full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine. More than 70 kids were seriously wounded."

Russia has continuously denied aggression against Ukraine and has not used the words "war" or "invasion" when mentioning the military action. Any Russian media outlet that uses those words faces blockage by the country's media regulator for spreading "deliberately false information about the actions of Russian military personnel."

Russian state TV channels call the invasion "a special operation of liberation," according to BBC.

People in Russia can no longer access Facebook or Twitter after the government blocked the sites to reduce the spread of information regarding Ukraine's invasion.

Roskomnadzor, Russia's Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media, said it halted access to Facebook because it had engaged in "discrimination" against Russian news media. Russian authorities have threatened to fine or block Russian independent media outlets if they do not delete publications about the war in Ukraine.

"On these resources, under the guise of reliable messages, publicly significant untrue information about the shelling of Ukrainian cities and the death of civilians in Ukraine as a result of the actions of the Russian Army, as well as materials in which the ongoing operation is called an attack, invasion, or a declaration of war, is posted," Roskomnadzor said in a statement.

Newsweek reached out to Kyslytsya for additional comment.