In one of his most aggressive declarations of the war, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated at a St. Petersburg forum that “all of Ukraine is ours,” asserting that Russians and Ukrainians are “one nation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested during an economic forum that the "whole of Ukraine" belongs to his country, even though Russia only controls about a fifth of Ukrainian territory.

Russian President Vladimir Putin intensified his rhetoric about the war in Ukraine, saying all of Ukraine belongs to Russia. In response, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the statement is meant to "divert public attention away from the complete failure of [Putin's] quarter-century rule.