Zelenskyi: Ukrainians and Russians have a lot in common, but “we’re definitely not one nation”

President Volodymyr Zelenskyi stated that Ukrainians and Russians were not one people, but if they were one, a yellow and blue flag would fly over the State Duma in Moscow.

Interfax-Ukraine reports.

"Let's finally set the record straight. We're definitely not one nation. If we were one nation, then in Moscow, most likely, people would pay with the hryvnia, and a yellow and blue flag would be over the State Duma. So, we're definitely not one nation. Each of us has his own way," Zelenskyi said.

According to the president, "it's impossible to talk about 'one nation' and openly seize our territories and continue the massacre in Donbas."

He noted that Ukrainians and Russians had a lot in common–a common part of history, memory, neighborhood, relatives, common victory over fascism, common tragedies–and "perhaps we'll have something in common in the future if it's not too late to stop the total division between our countries."

Zelenskyi restated that Ukrainians and Russians were not one people, but they "really should have one goal, to end the war in Donbas and return its territory to Ukraine."

To recap, on June 30, the President of Russia Vladimir Putin once again repeated a propaganda point about "the one people" which, supposedly, existed from time immemorial in the trinity of "Great Russians, Belarusians, and Little Russians" which forces "tried to divide and split up," in particular with the efforts of the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania, and Austro-Hungary.

Putin also believes that the draft law initiated by Volodymyr Zelenskyi" declares the Russian people indigenous to the territory of Ukraine." He compared this document to a weapon of mass destruction.

Zelenskyi calls Putin's statement on "external governance" of Ukraine a "propaganda mantra"