The speaker of the lower house of Russia's parliament told members in a plenary session on Tuesday that Ukraine had become a "terrorist state," according to remarks posted on the State Duma's website.

Vyacheslav Volodin was quoted as saying that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was the head of a "criminal regime."

Russian officials have since the beginning of Moscow's "special military operation" in Ukraine sought to paint their neighbor as being controlled by anti-Russian fascists and "neo-Nazis," but have not pushed the idea that it is a terrorist state.

Ukraine and the West say the claim is baseless propaganda, used to justify a land grab.