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Many in Western Ukraine want to become part of Poland, Romania, Hungary — Putin

"The people living there - many of them, at least, I know it for certain, 100% - they want to return to their historic homeland," the Russian president noted

MOSCOW, December 19. /TASS/. Many residents of Western Ukraine want their territories to once again become parts of Poland, Romania and Hungary, and Russia is the only state that can guarantee the territorial integrity of the Ukrainian state, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during the expanded Defense Ministry board meeting.

Putin pointed out that Ukraine received all its territories after World War II: Joseph Stalin gave some Polish lands, including Lvov - a city of 10 million people - and 'took' some territories from Romania and Hungary.

"He gave everything to Ukraine. The people living there - many of them, at least, I know it for certain, 100% - they want to return to their historic homeland. And the countries that lost these territories, they dream about taking these territories back. In this sense, only Russia could guarantee the territorial integrity of Ukraine," Putin said.

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Foreign policy Vladimir Putin

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