Putin published an article proving that Russians and Ukrainians are one nation

The President stressed that he perceives the wall that has arisen between the two peoples as a great tragedy, considering it not only a consequence of mistakes made by the leaderships of the two countries at different times, but also "the purposeful work of those forces that have always sought to undermine the unity" of the two nations.

"The formula that is used has been known from all eternity: divide and rule. Nothing new. Hence the attempts to play on the national question, sow discord between people. And as a super task - to divide and then play off parts of a single nation among themselves", - Putin wrote in his article.

The President cited many facts from history to support his point of view.

In conclusion, the President added that Russia remains open for dialogue with Ukraine. “But it is important for us to understand that a partner defends its national interests, and does not serve others, is not an instrument in someone’s hands to fight us,” the president writes. In his opinion, Ukraine's true sovereignty is possible only in partnership with Russia. “I will say one thing: Russia has never been and will never be“ anti-Ukraine. ”And what Ukraine should be like is for its citizens to decide”, - the president summed up.

We will remind, after Putin's statement that Ukraine and Russia are one people, the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Dmitry Kuleba and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke against this statement. Kuleba said that Putin himself was to blame for the break in relations with Ukraine. Zelensky noted that Russia and Ukraine have nothing in common, except for history, memory and victory over fascism. According to Zelensky, if Ukrainians and Russians were one people, then "hryvnias would go around in Moscow, and the Ukrainian flag would be flying over the State Duma." In addition, as the Ukrainian president noted, there would be no war in Donbass, since "friendly peoples do not seize the territory of a neighbor", - the Ukrainian president summed up.