MOSCOW, April 12. /TASS/. The Soviet Union’s achievements in space exploration belonged to all of the country’s 15 constituent republics and Russia has never tried to split and distribute it, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on her Facebook page in response to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s statements about the key role of Ukrainian designers in the Soviet space program.

In part, Zelensky said that Yuri Gagarin’s historical space flight would have been impossible without Ukraine.

"Russia has never split and distributed the glory of space achievements. Space satellites and rockets and Gagarin’s smile - all that belonged to all of the 15 republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine and Estonia. And to all scientists, factory workers, school teachers, medics and military servicemen - all those who worked for achieving this incredible goal," Zakharova said.

She sarcastically remarked that Ukrainian designers for many years faced no hindrances "to conquer the expanses of outer space with their fundamental calculations and faith."

"And we are glad if they really succeed, even if in their dreams," Zakharova stressed.

In reality, she remarked, the Ukrainian leadership is notorious for achievements of a very different sort.

"It is deplorable that the greatest achievements of the Kiev regime is frenzied hatred, Russophobia and reincarnation of the nationalist ideology and Nazi emblems," she concluded.

April 12 is marked as Cosmonautics Day. In 2021, it is 60 years since a Vostok launch vehicle orbited the Vostok-1 spacecraft with Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on board. He was the first man to have traveled to space. Vostok-1 orbited the Earth once. After re-entry Yuri Gagarin was ejected from the descent capsule and parachuted to the ground in the Saratov Region.