Perceptions of the Russo-Ukrainian war raging on as we speak vary widely across the world. Some think of it as Russian aggression, some as an attempt by Russia to defend its interests or even its cultural assets and citizens, de-jure or de-facto, residing in Ukraine. But few people seem to be aware of the fact that there is a wide-spread view in Russia that Ukraine as a nation, and Ukrainians as an ethnic group and cultural identity, do not truly exist and that Russian attempt to take over Ukraine is legitimized by the fact that Ukrainians and Russians are the same people who need to be unified. That view is shared, seemingly, by none other than Vladimir Putin, the Russian dictator himself.