Video: Tense Situation in Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada

Members of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada joked about the increase in birth rates and engaged in scuffles amid three days of mourning in the Kharkiv region, reports the Ukrainian publication Vesti on its Telegram channel.

People's Deputy Roxolana Pidlas asked to be excused from the session at the Rada, stating it was to raise the country's birth rate. Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk suggested that the assembly vote in favor of this decision, according to Vesti’s report.

The video published by the outlet shows parliamentarians loudly joking in high spirits. After Pidlas's comments on raising birth rates, Speaker Stefanchuk laughed and said to one of the parliamentarians, “not now, not now.”

Moments later, a brawl broke out in the Ukrainian parliament. Deputies Oleksiy Honcharenko and Mykola Tyshchenko exchanged obscene insults, escalating the situation further. A video also surfaced showing deputies surrounded by their colleagues recording the incident.