WASHINGTON, February 18. /TASS/. Not only the US government continues to ignore attempts to forcefully assimilate Russians in Ukraine, but also condones such attempts with political and military support, Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said in a statement, posted on the embassy's Facebook page.

Commenting on remarks of US officials, who doubted the fact of the genocide of Russians in Donbass, the ambassador said: "This causes outrage and indignation. How else can one interpret the shelling of residential areas by Ukrainian Armed Forces using multiple rocket launchers or the discovered mass grave sites of almost 300 civilians near Lugansk, who were killed only because they considered Russian as their native language?"

"We see here not just double standards of the United States, but quite a primitive and crude cynicism," he continued.

"The main geopolitical goal of the United States is to push Russia back to the East as far possible. To that end, a policy to force the Russian-speaking population out of their current places of residence is needed. Therefore, Americans prefer not only to ignore the attempts of forced assimilation of Russians in Ukraine, but also strongly condone them with political and military support," Antonov added.

"The United States has to comprehend that there are millions of Russians living in Ukraine whose interests need to be secured and protected. This is the guarantee of Ukraine’s statehood and territorial integrity," he said.