Yes, Putin has been very consistent in his statements about Ukraine. He has repeatedly made the following claims:
1) The Ukrainian government is a “Nazi regime.”
2) The goal of his “special military operation” is to “denazify” Ukraine.
3) The Ukrainians and Russians are one nation. The concept of a Ukrainian national identity is a fiction invented by the West to divide Russia.
4) Russia needs to re-establish full sovereignty over its historical territories.
Given the above, how does Putin intend to “denazify” Ukraine without regime change that would install a Ukrainian government subservient to Moscow? If, as Putin has stated, Ukrainians are actually Russians, doesn’t Putin’s statement about Russia’s historical territories include Ukraine?
Here are just a few links to statements by Putin that make the points that I’ve outlined above:
Putin’s February 24, 2022 address announcing his “special military operation” where he claimed that “neo-Nazis” had seized power in Ukraine and that the goal of the “special military operation” was to “denazify” Ukraine.
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/67843
Putin’s remarks to the Russian Federation Security Council on February 21, 2022 were he describes the Ukrainian government as a “neo-Nazi Banderite regime”.
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/67825
Putin’s remarks to the Russian Federation Security Council on March 3, 2022 were he again says his goal is to “denazify” Ukraine. He adds “I will never abandon my conviction that Russians and Ukrainians are one nation.”
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/67903
Putin’s address of September 21, 2022 were he describes that the Ukrainian government as a “neo-Nazi regime.”
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/69390
Putin’s July 12, 2021 article claiming that Russia and Ukraine are one people and that the concept of a Ukrainian national identity is a fiction invented by the West to divide Russia.
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181
Putin’s 2023 New Years’ Address where he talks about reestablishing Russia’s full sovereignty over its historical territories.
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/70315
https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/ukrainian-jews-shocked-after-city-elects-neo-nazi-mayor-437975
Local Jews in shock after Ukrainian city of Konotop elects neo-Nazi mayor
Two months after local elections were held across Ukraine, residents of the small northern city of Konotop are expressing shock and dismay over the behavior of newly chosen Mayor Artem Semenikhin of the neo-Nazi Svoboda party.
According to reports, Semenikhin drives around in a car bearing the number 14/88, a numerological reference to the phrases “we must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children” and “Heil Hitler”; replaced the picture of President Petro Poroshenko in his office with a portrait of Ukrainian national leader and Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera; and refused to fly the city’s official flag at the opening meeting of the city council because he objected to the star of David emblazoned on it. The flag also features a Muslim crescent and a cross.