MOSCOW, April 15. /TASS/. Ukrainian nationalists employ combat tactics reminiscent of Nazi Germany’s methods during the World War II, Russian Investigative Committee Chair Alexander Bastrykin said on Friday.

"Combat tactics and methods employed by Ukrainian nationalists before and after the special operation of the Russian armed forces are similar to methods used by Nazis during World War II. Firing at civilians in order to kill and intimidate, using them as human shield during retreat, planting bombs and mines at important social facilities is widespread," he said in an article, published by the committee’s official journal, headlined Investigator’s notes.

Bastrykin stressed that Ukraine has turned into a country, whose ideology is based on Russophobia.

"They used the rostrum of Verkhovna Rada [national parliament] to declare Russian-speaking population, including those living in Donbass, ‘biological waste’ and designate Russia as the country’s main enemy. Moreover, back in 2021, Verkhovna Rada adopted a law on indigenous peoples of Ukraine, which makes no mention of Russians," Bastrykin wrote.

Since 2014, over 165,000 people have been interviewed and over 45,000 listed as victims (including over 7,700 minors) in criminal cases, launched by Russian investigators over the events in Ukraine.