Moscow - (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday accused "neo-Nazis" in Ukraine of committing crimes against civilians on Holocaust Remembrance Day, in a speech he has long used to justify his military operation in the neighboring country.

For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky commemorated the anniversary by calling on the world to stand together in the face of "indifference" and "hatred".

"Forgetting the lessons of history leads to the repetition of terrible tragedies," Putin said, adding, "This is confirmed by crimes against civilians, ethnic cleansing and punitive measures organized by neo-Nazis in Ukraine."

"Our soldiers are bravely fighting this evil," he added.

To justify Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Putin has repeatedly denounced the "extermination" of the Russian-speaking population in eastern Ukraine and described the regime of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a "neo-Nazi".

"Every attempt to revise our country's contribution to victory (during World War II) is in fact aimed at justifying the crimes of Nazism and opening the way for the revival of its murderous ideology," Putin said in a statement released by the Kremlin.

Putin mourned the "millions of innocent dead - Jews and representatives of other nationalities - who were murdered, tortured, died of hunger and disease" during the Holocaust.

Exceptionally this year, and because of the invasion of Ukraine according to Warsaw, Russian representatives were not invited to the ceremonies commemorating the 78th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in southern Poland.

Every year, Russia participates in the commemoration ceremony on January 27.

Russian Rabbi Beryl Lazar told reporters Friday after a ceremony at the Jewish Museum of Tolerance in Moscow that not inviting the Russian representatives was "an insult to us".

"We are fully aware of and remember the Red Army's role in the liberation of Auschwitz and the victory over the Nazis," he added, stressing that "every people should always be able to find the means to be grateful to those who saved them from extinction."

As for Zelensky, who is of Jewish origin and comes from the south of the country, whose population is mostly Russian-speaking, he said, "Today, as always, Ukraine honors the memory of millions of Holocaust victims. We know and remember that indifference kills as does hatred."