This is a very US-centric take on the matter. I used to have friends in Ukraine (we've since lost touch) and was there prior to the 2014 US-backed coup. It was not a revolution. I digress.

Prior to the 2014 coup, ethnic Russians were slowly being forbidden their heritage. A similar situation is the Basques in Northern Spain (where I've also been and worked). They are part of Spain but have their own language and culture and lots of things are bilingual and bicultural there. There are huge arguments over soveriegnty, cultural heritage, language, rights, etc. So it was in Ukraine since the fall of the USSR (and some topics even before, even if things like soveriegnty were moot points under the Soviets).

After the first Ukraine revolution there was a concerted effort to delegitimize the ethnic Russians, with predictable results.

Do I think Putin is right to claim any Russians anywhere mean a country is Russian (I paraphrase). No, that is ridiculous.

Just as ridiculous is the premise in this article that Ukraine just wants to get away from big bad Vlad and the Russkies trying to steal their country. It is far from simple.