Statements by high-ranking Kremlin representatives, including Russian leader Vladimir Putin himself, continue to indicate broader Russian territorial ambitions in Ukraine, beyond Crimea and the four areas that Russia illegally annexed, analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) say.

They recall that on Monday, V. Putin held a meeting on the social and economic development of the occupied Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions, during which he often referred to occupied Ukraine as"Donbass and Novorossia."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also responded to Odessa Mayor Gennady Trukhanov, who said on Friday that Odessa is not a"Russian" city and has its own history. Peskov said Odessa's history is"inseparably linked" with Russia.

Vladimir Medinsky, an adviser to the Russian president, also stated that Russians and Ukrainians are"one nation" with a "historical homeland," and mentioned "ancient Russian lands on both sides of the Dnieper River, Novorossiya and Crimea."

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' continued commitment to these narratives demonstrates the Kremlin's ongoing goal of destroying the Ukrainian state and enslaving the Ukrainian people, ISW concluded.