Kyiv: Ukraine on Tuesday expressed "regret" after a picture resembling Goddess Kali tweeted by the country's defence ministry elicited outrage on social media.

The social media users alleged that Ukraine used Goddess Kali’s image in a demeaning way. The artist portrayed the explosion using the famous American actress Marilyn Monroe in her 'flying skirt' pose with the face and detailing like Goddess Kali, reported news agency ANI.

The country's deputy foreign minister Emine Dzhaparova said that Ukraine "regrets" the "distorted" depiction of goddess Kali by its defence ministry's a and that Ukraine "respects unique Indian culture and highly appreciates support from India".

She added the depiction had been removed.

"We regret @DefenceU depicting #Hindu goddess #Kali in distorted manner. #Ukraine & its people respect unique #Indian culture&highly appreciate support. The depiction has already been removed. is determined to further increase cooperation in spirit of mutual respect& friendship," Dzhaparova tweeted.

The image, tweeted by Ukraine's Defence Ministry on April 30 with the caption "Work of art," was improvised by Ukrainian artist Maksym Palenko.

After hitting social media, the tweet caused a huge backlash, forcing the Defence Ministry of Defence to pull down the Twitter post.

One Twitter user posted, "Shocking! Official handle of Ukraine Defense Ministry is portraying Maa Kali in a demeaning pose. This is not a work of art. Our faith is not a matter of joke. Take it down and apologise @DefenceU"

Meanwhile, another Twitter user said, "Hurting sentiments of 1.4 billion Indians is not Okay @DefenceU. This is a blatant display of Hinduphobia by Ukraine's defence ministry. Please remove this."

In February last year, Dzhaporava had visited India, marking the first visit by a Ukrainian minister to India since the beginning of the Ukraine war.

While on the visit, the Ukrainian minister engaged in talks with Meenakshi Lekhi, Minister of State for External Affairs.