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Ukraine's independence is a thorn in Putin's Russia's flesh.

Absolutely not. Friendly independent free and prosperous Ukraine is a dream of every Russian leader if he is not a complete fool (or a die-hard communist). The keyword here is friendly. A non-friendly Ukraine would be a big problem both for Russia and Ukraine. This was a constant concern of every Russian government. In fact, sometimes I think Russia has made too many concessions to Ukraine so it would seem that Russia needs Ukraine more than Ukraine needs Russia. Over the past 15 years, Ukrainians has been very troublesome partners. I could never really understand why. Probably, phantoms of the past, but it is time to grow up and move on.

About elections. Putin has made a big political mistake so obviously taking sides in Ukrainian affairs. That was plain stupid but hopefully will be mended over time. At the same time, all these tales about OMONs and Russian dioxine are just lies and propaganda. Again, Yushchenko has made a political mistake either so openly confronting Russia before the elections. Unfortunately, quite a few people In Ukraine (especially among the elite) thought that confronting Russia (using Poland's and Baltic states' strategy discussed here) will give Ukraine a free ride to NATO and EU. I personally think this strategy, were it to work, would have meant big troubles to Ukraine. Fortunately, whatever our Polish friends may think, it is not going to work.

in the long run Ukraine's problems are the problems of all the post-soviet countries (that is that countries that had emancipated themselves from the Russian occupation)

There were no Russian occupation of Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine were the parts of the former Soviet Union. As such, by the way, both Russia and Ukraine are responsible for all atrocities of the communist regime, along with the "occupation" of the Baltic states, were we to call it this way. You probably do not want to remember that over the years there were more Ukrainian than Russian leaders of the USSR. So if I were you I would be cautious in using such vocabulary.