Attacks against Ukrainian nationals in Germany have risen since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in remarks made available on Tuesday (April 5).

Faeser told German daily Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung that 109 offenses against Ukrainian nationals have been recorded since the end of February. They include 13 acts of violence like bodily harm. Most offenses were property damage, insults and verbal threats.

According to news agency Reuters, some 250,000 Russia-born migrants and 150,000 people born in Ukraine lived in Germany before President Vladmir Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine on February 24. More than 313,000 refugees fleeing Ukraine have been registered in Germany since then.

Most people fleeing Ukraine are women, children and the elderly. Men aged 18 and 60 are barred from leaving the country.

Also read: Berlin's main train station, a place of help and hope for refugees fleeing Ukraine

9 cases of sexual assault

Meanwhile, at least nine cases of sexual assault against women fleeing Ukraine have been recorded in Germany, Holger Münch, the president of the German Federal Criminal Police Office said on Tuesday (April 5) in Berlin.

Almost all of the cases took place relating to the accommodation where Ukrainian refugees are staying, most of them group accommodation, news agency epd reported.

Münch further said that German police were registering some 200 criminal offenses in relation to the war in Ukraine per week in Germany, Münch said. Many of the crimes were committed against Russian nationals.

Ukrainian family robbed by fake police officers

In late March, two unknown perpetrators pretending to be police officers stopped a van carrying Ukrainian refugees on a highway near the western German city of Bielefeld and robbed the passengers, German public broadcaster WDR reported on Tuesday (April 5).

According to police information, the perpetrators overtook the van and then signaled the passengers to stop on the shoulder of the highway. One of the men asked for the passengers' IDs and then searched the van and several bags, WDR reported. In the process, he reportedly stole an unknown amount of cash.

The Ukrainian family of nine only realized they were being robbed when the fake police men drove off, police told WDR. In the evening, they told their hosts about the incident, who informed the police, which in turn made it public on Tuesday. The robbery already took place in late March.

Police said people who encounter suspicious behavior should ask for a police ID. They also noted that all police vehicles have a blue light and handheld police signals.

Read more: Ukrainian refugees targeted by dubious accommodation offers at Berlin station

Anti-Russian assaults

According to Interior Minister Faeser, there have also been more attacks against Russians lately: Police recorded 308 anti-Russian offenses since the end of February, including 15 acts of violence. "Offenses against Russians and Russian facilities are on the rise," Faeser said at a press conference.

"This conflict should not be allowed to creep into our society," the minister said. "We have to remind people that this is Putin's criminal war. It is not the war of people with Russian roots who live here in Germany."

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special military operation" aimed at demilitarizing and "denazifying" its neighbor. Overall, close to 4.3 million people have fled Ukraine in the past six weeks.

With Reuters, epd, WDR