Russia Ukraine war, page-10236

Ukraine received sovereignty in 1991 and joined a partner of NATO in 1993 so they always thought themself as part of the Western society, Yanukovych got corrupted by Putin later in his presidency so he was ousted by the Ukrainian. Arguably they should have waited until their next real democratic election to kick him out but given they've waited for 20 years and was finally about to join the EU, you can understand their major frustration being betrayed by their own president.