After nuclear force threats, Putin could instead take his own life: Ukraine's UN ambassador

WASHINGTON

Ukraine’s ambassador to the UN on Monday suggested Russian President Vladimir Putin take his own life in the wake of his threats to use nuclear force in Ukraine.

Speaking at an emergency session of the General Assembly, Sergiy Kyslytsya said Ukraine was prompted to call for the session because the level of Russia's "threat to the global security has been equated to the Second World War or even higher following Putin’s order to put an alert on Russian nuclear forces."

"What madness! If [Putin] wants to kill himself, he doesn’t need to use a nuclear arsenal. He has to do what the guy in Berlin did in a bunker in May 1945," said Kyslytsya, referring to Adolf Hitler’s suicide in his underground bunker.

Drawing further parallels between Putin and Hitler, the Ukrainian envoy said the war on Ukraine was not provoked but it was "chosen by someone who is right now sitting in the bunker."

"We know what happened with the person who sat in the bunker in Berlin in May 1945," he added.

Saying there is a "full-fledged war" in the center of Europe, he added: "Everyone in this hall and everyone in the world knows that Russia and Russia alone started this invasion, now facilitated by Belarus."

Putin began the war on Ukraine on Thursday after recognizing the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk breakaway regions in the country's east. The offensive prompted worldwide condemnations and sanctions from Western nations, including the US.