After U.S. led coalition forces finally raised victory flags over the devastated city of Raqqa last week, liberating it from jihadist and Islamic State (ISIS) forces, Russia responded by condemning the U.S.

Major-General Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, condemned the U.S. in the harshest possible terms for their involvement in the Syrian conflict. Konashenkov said in a statement on Sunday to the Russian News Agency TASS that around 200,000 people had lived in Raqqa before the conflict in Syria, but that not more than 45,000 people remained.

“Raqqa has inherited the fate of Dresden in 1945, wiped off the face of the earth by Anglo-American bombardments,” said Konashenkov.

Near the end of World War II, British and American warplanes bombed the city of Dresden, Germany so intensely that it generated a firestorm. An estimated 22,700 to 25,000 people were killed.

ISIS conquered Raqqa in 2013 and declared the city the capital of the Islamic caliphate. Raqqa became the focus of multi-national efforts to battle ISIS. Most non-Sunni religious structures in the city were destroyed by ISIS, as well, leaving the city in ruins.  On October 17, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) declared their victory over ISS in the city to be complete.

“What is behind the rush by Western capitals to provide targeted financial help only to Raqqa?,” said Konashenkov.

“There’s only one explanation – the desire to cover up evidence of the barbaric bombardments by the U.S. air force and the coalition as fast as possible and to bury the thousands of civilians ‘liberated’ from Islamic State in the ruins.”