The Kremlin continues to publicly declare territorial claims that go beyond the already occupied areas. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has reported that these statements indicate Moscow's unwavering goal of destroying the Ukrainian state and subjugating the Ukrainian people.

Source : Institute for the Study of War (ISW)

Details : On 30 June, Putin held a meeting on the development of occupied Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts, during which he frequently referred to the occupied territories of Ukraine as Donbas and Novorossiya.

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to Odesa Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov's statement that Odesa has its own history and is not a Russian city. Peskov said that the city's history is "inextricably linked" to Russia.

Putin's aide Vladimir Medinsky repeated the view that Russians and Ukrainians are supposedly "one people" and that "ancient Russian lands on both sides of the Dnipro (River), Novorossiya and Crimea" supposedly constitute Russia's "historical homeland".

Earlier, on 20 June, at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin directly stated that Ukraine belongs to Russia, reinforcing the signal of his intentions to annex even more Ukrainian territories. These messages are constantly repeated by Kremlin officials, including regarding Odesa, which they continue to refer to as a Russian city.

Such statements by the Kremlin coincide with Volodymyr Saldo, the Russian-appointed puppet governor of the temporarily occupied territories of Kherson Oblast, who called in April 2025 to occupy the territories on both banks of the Dnipro River in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts.

Colonel Pavlo Palisa, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, stated in early June 2025 that Russia intends to occupy the entire territory of Ukraine on the eastern (left) bank of the Dnipro River and capture Odesa Oblast by the end of 2026. 

Quote: "Putin and other Kremlin officials have consistently indicated that they do not believe that Ukraine is an independent state with its own history, identity, and culture separate from Russia. Russian officials' ongoing commitment to these narratives demonstrates the Kremlin's continued objective of destroying the Ukrainian state and subjugating the Ukrainian people." 

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