Russia strikes back against Canada in Twitter confrontation over Ukraine situation

Russia responded after Canada tweeted a 'helpful' map of the Ukraine territories

Armed men from the ultra nationalist party Right Sector and guards under orders of the Ukrainian (Getty Images)

Russia struck back against Canada yesterday in the farcical Twitter confrontation unfolding as real events in Ukraine threaten to spin violently out of control.

Canada’s Nato account posted a map pointing out the geographical borders in the region on Wednesday, with the caption: ‘Geography can be tough. Here’s a guide for Russian soldiers who keep getting lost & ‘accidentally’ entering #Ukraine.’

As of this morning, the tweet has been re-posted more than 30,000 times, including by Samantha Powers, the US ambassador to the United Nations.

Yesterday the Russians struck back. The Russians at Nato account responded, tweeting another map with Crimea marked as Russia, with the message: ‘Helping our Canadian colleagues to catch up with contemporary geography of Europe’.

Russia annexed Crimea in March of this year.

Yesterday, Barack Obama accused Russia of “repeatedly and deliberately” violating the territory of Ukraine, warning that the “ongoing Russian incursion into Ukraine will only bring more costs and consequences for Russia”.

However, the US president ruled out military intervention.

More than 2,000 people are reported to have died as fighting across the country erupted in February of this year.

In another sign of the times, the Ukrainian foreign ministry tweeted two hashtags accusing Russia of invading its territory, as well as a plea for retweets.

Simultaneously, Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko claimed Russian military troops had “actually been brought into the country”.