Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine is so savage precisely because he believes Russians and Ukrainians are one people.
To understand his decision to invade, we should listen to how he himself explains it — and we should listen even more intently when the rationale that he offers seems so absurd.
Two of Putin’s justifications are particularly striking. The first, that Ukraine is an “anti-Russia,” is patently bizarre. The second, that “Russians and Ukrainians are one people,” seems incongruous in the context of the first, and even more so given Russia’s murderous behavior in Ukraine.