The American analytical center, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), on Thursday evaluated the speech of the Russian president at the recent meeting of the discussion club Valdai as another proof that Vladimir Putin's goal is to destroy the Ukrainian state.

Putin addressed the representatives of the discussion club on September 27 in Moscow and reiterated that Ukraine was created by Russia, that Ukrainians and Russians were one people, they were mistakenly divided into two states, and his country“is the only real guarantor of Ukraine's sovereignty”.

American analysts stressed that with similar statements, Putin denied that Ukraine is a sovereign state, that Russia had recognised Ukraine's sovereignty, and that Ukrainians are a separate nation. 

ISW suggested that Putin's narrative that Ukraine and Russia had been split into separate states due to “arbitrary historical circumstances” confirmed his “unwavering goal of destroying the Ukrainian state and erasing the concept of the Ukrainian people”. 

It noted that the denial of Ukraine's sovereignty by the Russian president “is fundamentally incompatible with serious negotiations”.

ISW believes that Putin's statements, along with Russia's “numerous actions”, should lead to serious consideration of whether Russia's war against Ukraine is genocide, because legally, genocide is an act committed with the intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group in whole or in part.