The German government has commented on a journalistic investigation that revealed that German companies are helping the Russian occupation regime with construction in occupied Mariupol.

As reported by Tagesschau, Berlin warns German companies against participating in Russian projects in the occupied city.

A foreign ministry spokesperson said that the so-called "reconstruction" only serves Russian propaganda.

"Every company that does this should ask itself what service it provides," the spokesperson added.

In turn, a spokesperson for the ministry of economy added that the customs service and the prosecutor's office should find out whether German companies have violated sanctions.

German TV channel ARD conducted an investigation that revealed that Knauf and WKB systems are building facilities in Mariupol.

Earlier, a journalist from the German public broadcaster ZDF, Armin Körper, who heads the channel's Moscow office, filmed a story that distorts the picture of life in Russian-occupied Mariupol.

Ukraine's Ambassador to Germany, Oleksii Makieiev, reacted to the story, adding that the story had caused a sharply negative reaction among many German experts and journalists he knew, including Körper's colleagues at ZDF.