Ukraine is not Russia - and never has been

 

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Many outside Ukraine and Russia view Ukraine and Russia and their peoples as largely the same.

However, the current war is, in fact, a war between two cultures or societies.

The reason for the confusion is that in modern times imperial Russia captured and attempted to colonize Ukraine.  Ukraine only managed to break free in 1991.

But the difference between the two has been recognized for as long as the two have existed, even while Ukraine was a part of a Russian empire.

For example, in 1861 the Russian historian, Mykola Kostomarov, wrote this about the difference between Ukrainians and Russians, 

(Source: Paul Robert Magocsi's A History of Ukraine; The Land and Its Peoples)

"The Southern Rus' [Ukrainians] are characterized by individualism, the Great Rus' [Russians] by collectivism...In the political sphere, the Southern Rus' people were able to create among themselves free forms of society which were controlled no more than was required for their very existence, and yet they were strong in themselves without infringing on personal liberties.  The Great Rus' people attempted to build on a firm foundation a collective structure permeated by one spirit.  The striving of the Southern Rus' was towards federation, that of the Great Rus' towards autocracy and a firm monarchy."

Despite the archaic and russo-centric reference of his time to a "Southern" and a "Great" Rus', Kostomov distinguished between the two as having distinctly different cultures.  Although an imperialist who believed in a federated Slavic civilization, he was also a leading figure in the Ukrainian national movement that recognized a distinct Ukrainian culture--not a Putinist at all.

Ukrainians' individualism and love of freedom stand in contrast to Russians' autocratic culture.  Ukrainians are not just a separate nation, they are a separate Slavic people with a distinct culture from that of Russia.