Volodymyr Groysman, 41, said that Ukraine will “never recognise any citizenship issued by the aggressor state”

The Ukrainian prime minister has compared Russian passports issued to residents of rebel-controlled areas to Nazi identity documents, saying they would not be recognised by his country.

“These passports will be considered illegal,” Volodymyr Groysman, 41, said. “We will never recognise any citizenship issued by the aggressor state. This is like Nazi Germany issuing Ausweis [identity document] for certain people.”

The papers were issued in German-occupied areas such as Poland and Ukraine during the Second World War.

President Putin issued a decree last month making it easier for people living in areas of eastern Ukraine controlled by Moscow-backed separatists to obtain a Russian passport. That was seen as a provocative move designed to test Volodymyr Zelensky, the comic elected as Ukraine’s next president on April