Should one take the Kremlin's irredentist promotions seriously ...

• Putin: Russians, Ukrainians are ‘one people’
  ^{— AP · Jul 20, 2019}

I believe that Russians and Ukrainians are one people ... one nation, in fact. When these lands that are now the core of Ukraine joined Russia ... nobody thought of themselves as anything but Russians. [...] we can use this as our competitive advantage during some form of integration. — Vladimir Putin · Jun 19, 2019

• On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians
  ^{— Vladimir Putin · Jul 12, 2021}

• ‘Russification’ erodes Ukraine’s sovereignty in occupied Kherson
  ^{— Mehul Srivastava, Veronika Samborska · Financial Times · Aug 5, 2022}

this has included road signs exhorting Ukrainians to believe they are “One People . . . With Russia”

In this video from a liberated town in #Kharkiv region, east #Ukraine, Ukrainian soldiers removed a Russian propaganda poster saying “We are one people with Russia”. Only to reveal a poster with national poet Shevchenko’s verse “Fight and you will win”. — Alex Kokcharov · Sep 10, 2022

• ‘Never saw such hell': Russian soldiers in Ukraine call home
  ^{— Erika Kinetz, Solomiia Hera, Anna Pavlova · AP · Feb 24, 2023}

Russian soldiers had been told by Putin and others that they’d be welcomed by their brothers and sisters in Ukraine as liberators.

... then their impressive destruction and killing nonetheless tell a different story. Whether miscalculation, delusion, honest false belief, or something else, land grab fits the bill. The swift opaque referendums suggest the same. Land grab, influence, control, power, "Ukrainian brothers and sisters be dɐmnɘd".

Ukrainians and Russians as ‘One People’: An Ideologeme and its Genesis
^{— Pål Kolstø · Taylor and Francis · Aug 23, 2023}

Though to be expected I guess, I'd find the re-culturation/indoctrination attempts a bit ... embarrassing when exposed.

Russia is here forever. There should be no doubt about this. There will be no return to the past. — Andrey Turchak (May 2022)

In this video from a liberated town in #Kharkiv region, east #Ukraine, Ukrainian soldiers removed a Russian propaganda poster saying “We are one people with Russia”. Only to reveal a poster with national poet Shevchenko’s verse “Fight and you will win”. — Alex Kokcharov (Sep 10, 2022)

Kherson removes pro-Russia signs, puts up pro-Ukrainian ones ^{(via US News)
— Reuters · Nov 22, 2022}

Oleksandr Tkachenko: 'The civilized world must take active measures to prevent the Russian propaganda machine from winning'
^{— Oleksandr Tkachenko · Le Monde · Nov 24, 2022}

AP PHOTOS: Propaganda billboards embodied Russian occupation
^{— Bernat Armangue · The Independent · Dec 2, 2022}

I have no objection to the modern nation state. I think it's an excellent, pragmatic way to organise governance. I object to the ludicrous notion that it has some moral value. It has none. If moving a border saves lives, move the border. Hell, if moving a border makes the trains run better, move the border. It's a nothing, a trivial bit of bureaucracy. It's absolute insanity to reify it to something worth dying in the thousands for. — Isaac

Not quite "the modern nation state". Maybe some day?

, not a defense/military club, though. With NATO around, that would be a bit odd (or redundant to some extent) I guess.