Stalin was much more willing to sacrifice the lives of Ukrainians, than Russians.
Looks like Pooty-Putin wants to follow Stalin’s lead.
Millions of Ukrainians perished in the NKVD-caused famine of the early 1930’s. It was understandable that they would welcome the invading Nazis as liberators.
Ironic that N.S. Khrushchev, son of Ukrainian peasants, would become Soviet premier following the death of Stalin. For his role in the famine exterminations, Khrushchev was already well known as “the hangman of Ukraine”.
Stalin was not even Russian & spoke the language with a thick Georgian accent.