Russian President Vladimir Putin has questioned Ukraine’s statehood in a televised address to the nation given on Monday evening. Putin described Ukraine as a state created by Russia under the rule of communist leader Vladimir Lenin, adding that Lenin statues had been destroyed there as a sign of “decommunization,” referring to the tearing down of communist monuments since independence. “We are ready to show Ukraine what real decommunization is,” he said. Ukraine, Putin continued, had never had “real statehood” but had rather copied models to create a nation state. Nationalists and radicals wh…