The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation confirmed that the Russian ambassador to Tel Aviv had been summoned after statements by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in which he alluded to Hitler's Jewish origins.

Lavrov had attacked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and said, "The fact that Zelensky is a Jew does not mean the absence of Nazi elements in his country."

He added that he believed "that Adolf Hitler was also of Jewish blood."

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid criticized the Russian Foreign Minister's statements, saying they were "unforgivable, shameful and a terrible historical mistake."

According to Haaretz newspaper, Lapid stressed that Israel was "waiting for an apology" for these statements.

Lapid stated, "Saying that Hitler was a Jew is like saying that the Jews killed themselves."

He added, "The Nazis persecuted the Jews, and the Nazis were nothing but Nazis, and only the Nazis did the systematic extermination of the Jewish people."

Haaretz quoted the head of the Holocaust Museum, Danny Dayan, as saying that Lavrov's statements were "dangerous and worthy of every condemnation," adding that Lavrov had turned the victims into criminals by falsely claiming that Hitler was of Jewish descent.

Lavrov's comments came during an interview with Italian television about the war on Ukraine, in which he stressed that his country does not intend to end the military operation by the ninth of May, which coincides with the Russians' Victory Day.

Lavrov added, in statements to Italian television, that Russia will not stop its efforts to prevent the outbreak of a nuclear war, and that it does not have any plans to change the Kyiv regime and does not demand President Zelensky to surrender, but rather to release civilians and stop the resistance, as he put it.