Why Putin wants to erase Ukraine's distinct identity

In a mass May Day demonstration of military might, the Red Army rolled a legion of tanks through the Principal Square, in Kharkov, Ukraine on May 1, 1937. What is now Ukraine was a contested region of shifting borders for centuries that did not come completely under Moscow’s rule until late in the 18th century during the reign of Catherine the Great, and even then the Russian Empire was never able to swallow it easily or completely. – AP/Filepic

PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin has long insisted that Ukraine is part of the country he rules.

"Kyiv is the mother of Russian cities. Ancient Rus is our common source and we cannot live without each other," he wrote in March 2014 – a few days before completing the annexation of Crimea.