A Ukrainian delegate stopped a Russian one when he was trying to remove a Ukrainian flag from a hallway of the parliamentary building in Ankara where the Organisation of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) assembly was being held on Thursday.

Olesandr Marikovski, the Ukrainian delegate, posted a video of himself planting a punch at Valery Stavitsky’s face and retrieving the blue and yellow flag on his Facebook page.

Earlier in the day, some Ukrainian delegates scuffled with security officers who had tried to pull them away as they staged a protest, shouting and holding their flags next to Russia’s lead delegate as she tried to address the assembly.

The video shows a Ukrainian MP, Oleksandr Marikovski, clashing with his Russian counterpart Valery Stavitsky, after Stavitsky snatched away his flag. ✌️🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/0dpKFFuTiZ

— Qusay Noor (@QUSAY_NOOR_) May 5, 2023

Pictures of the disturbance were posted by the Turkish parliament on its website, and Mustafa Sentop, the parliament’s head, issued a stiff rebuke.

“I condemn this behavior that disrupts the peaceful environment that Turkey is trying to establish,” he said.

While representatives from the 13 countries in the BSEC met on Thursday, Russian drones continued to attack the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. There are currently no peace talks to end the war, which has devastated Ukrainian towns and cities, killed thousands of people and driven millions from their homes.