Lewdog88: The entire Ukraine, but particularly the West, were under duress preceding the war. The main questions raging were, do we align ourselves with the West? Accusations of former leanings/alignments with the Nazis were thrown about; the many ethnic Russians felt they rather stay with Russia - it was only after 2014 and under the present Prime Minister that the ethnic Russians of the Ukraine have been confirmed in their use of Russian as a recognised language, worthy to be taught etc. I don't know the actual percentage of ethnic Russians in the Ukraine, but that can be found out easily. BTW I am not Russian, nor Ukrainian.
Taurisk
