Ukraine tells Russia to dial NHS 111 helpline for mental health advice

Ukraine's United Nations ambassador suggested Russian officials living in London need "mental help" and should ring an NHS hotline to receive it, due to their defence of the war.

Speaking at a UN meeting in New York, Sergiy Kyslytsya brandished a print out of a tweet from the Russian Foreign Ministry, read it out and said that its content warranted intervention.

He said: "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."

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Russian state TV channels call the invasion "a special operation of liberation," according to BBC and propaganda from the country broadcast to children defends the war and claims Nato is the aggressor.

This hasn't convinced other countries, and even a number of members of staff at Russian state broadcaster Russia Today have left their jobs.

Here's the tweet the frustrated ambassador was referencing:

Clips of Kyslytsya's intervention circulated on social media and went viral. While he was praised for criticisng the Russians, people also pointed out that making light of mental health problems wasn't the best way to do it.

Looks like social media is the third front in the war.

The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.

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