MOSCOW, June 1. /TASS/. Western countries openly support the Ukrainian authorities' policy to physically exterminate ethnic Russians, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a commentary on Thursday.

"On the whole, the West openly supports Kiev's policy of physical extermination of ethnic Russians. It tacitly nods in approval when Ukrainian functionaries promise to exterminate the population of Crimea. Now the Westerners themselves have begun to talk openly about the extermination of civilians in Russia," Zakharova said.

She noted that "neo-Nazi sentiment and the desire to contribute to an escalation of the Ukrainian conflict are stronger than ever in Europe."

"It is to be regretted that Westerners, including, paradoxically enough, Germans, do not learn anything from history," she said.

In this connection, she recalled the "blatantly fascist statement" by US Senator Lindsey Graham: "Russians are dying… Best money we’ve spent."

"As to the degree of sophisticated cruelty and misanthropy, his statement surpassed the speeches of the Nazi criminals of the Third Reich," Zakharova pointed out.

She also drew attention to remarks by former German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who expressed the hope that the Ukrainian counteroffensive would become the biggest battle in Europe since World War II.

"The German politician's statement is in line with the ideas of the German Nazis, who, having developed the Barbarossa Plan, dreamed of a successful large-scale blitzkrieg against and subsequent conquest of the Soviet Union," she stressed.

Zakharova noted that the Ukrainian military "continues shelling civilian areas in Donetsk and other Russian cities that are within range of their artillery, and deliberately targets public facilities and residential buildings with the aim to cause civilian casualties."

She recalled the shelling of Lugansk with long-range British Storm Shadow missiles, which left six children wounded, as well as the shelling of the village of Shebekino, in the Belgorod Region, on May 27.

"Responsibility for these tragedies lies with the Kiev regime and its Western masters, who turn a blind eye to the heinous crimes it commits with the increasingly deadly weapons supplied to Ukraine by NATO countries," the Russian Foreign Ministry’s official stressed.

Drone attack

Zakharova noted that in the war against Russia, "the Kiev junta has long used terrorist methods." She mentioned attempts by Ukraine's special services to attack Moscow and the Moscow Region with drones on May 30.

"Obviously, the strike was meaningless militarily," Zakharova pointed out. "Its purpose was to intimidate the civilian population and at the same time to demonstrate to Kiev's foreign handlers its ability to continue the confrontation with Russia."

She described the West's reaction to the attack as noteworthy, recalling British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly's statement that Ukraine had the right to do so.

"Such candor is not accidental," Zakharova pointed out. "On May 15, the British daily The Telegraph reported that London had sent long-range kamikaze drones specially designed for Ukraine.