Since 2020's Russian official narrative started fiercely rejecting not only any Ukrainian ethnic and cultural identity, but also the notion that any ethnic group could on their own choose not to be aligned with Putin's Russia. Russian propaganda resorts to the most bizarre explanations, such as that "the brains of Ukrainian citizens were reprogrammed" by some secret technology, which is what caused the change in hearts, which apparently remains completely incomprehensible for Russian elites. Russians consistently reject the most obvious and rational arguments voiced by Ukrainians themselves - that gradual turn towards EU was result of Putin's inability to build a competitive economy in Russia for 20 years of his command, and Ukrainian refusal to adopt to the Russian political system based on a mix of authoritarian rule and organised crime, selectively applied laws and general population expected to be entirely apolitical and approving of any leadership decisions. Most importantly, Russian refuse to recognise that their 2014 annexation of Crimea and covert invasion on Donbas was what caused the radical change of heart among most Ukrainians, who saw this as an ultimate betrayal by Russia who always declared itself a "brotherly nation". And this refusal is what ultimately forces Russian to resort to these bizarre sci-fi stories about "brain programming".