A couple of background items Kovzhun doesn’t mention, possibly because he assumes that everybody knows: one of the reasons that eastern Ukraine has a great deal of support for close ties with Russia is that when Stalin depopulated that part of the country with a created famine, Russian colonists were brought in to replace the 7 million or so killed Ukrainians. That part of the country remains largely Russian-speaking; the surprising thing is that so many of these ex-Russians do support greater Ukrainian independence and closer ties with Europe. Russia, meanwhile, needs the Ukraine because, in spite of the major drop in agricultural productivity caused by collectivisation, the Ukraine continues to be the prime source of grain for the ex-Soviet Union. The coal, iron and manganese don’t hurt, either.
The other item worth mentioning is the red-and-black flags scattered among the blue-and-gold Ukrainian flags in the Maidan–the red-and-black banner is the flag of the Ukrainian Insurrectionist Army, which continued fighting the Soviet invasion for about a decade after WW II, with forces of up to divisional strength, with no support from the West. Putin, Yanukovich & Co. are certainly not happy to see that flag.
