And, you are despicable and dishonest that you refuse to acknowledge Ukraine was a divided country with a Ukrainian nationalist part and a smaller ethnic, cultural and pro-Russian part, which now comprises the annexed area.
That annexed area was part of Russia until the middle of last century. Crimea was "given" to Ukraine in 1954 by communists running the country but never would have been if Ukraine and Russia weren't part of the same country.
You know damn well the Maiden revolution setoff a civil war and the victims were the majority in the annexed area.
But, you don't care if the people there had their human rights trampled on.
No, I do not agree with your characterization of events. This conflict started with Russian interference in Ukrainian politics when they pressured Yanukovych to betray his electoral mandate and renege on the EU economic agreement. The resulting demonstrations were spontaneous and popular, and not the result of CIA machinations. This is a truth that you do not want to admit.
As for Donbas, it was seized militarily by Russian backed militants. The regimes there were the results of the very form of coup that you claim to hate. They were not the result of a popular movement by the populations.
The status of Kherson and Zaporizhzhi is even more stark. Their population there is 70-80% Ukrainian. There Russians are but a small part of the population. And yet you claim that the Russian held referenda vote 90% for union with Russia. Such a result is laughable on its face and no honest person would support it. This is especially true with Zaporizhzhia since the city of Zaporizhzhia itself did not take part in the referendum.
If you go back to my past posting you will see that I have always acknowledged the Russian majority in Crimea, as opposed to the falsely claimed Russian majority in Donbas. But even here it must be kept in mind that this majority is not of long historical standing. Rather it only goes back to 1945 when Stalin ethnically cleansed Crimea, removing the native Tartar population and replacing them with Russians.
And finally, you fail to recognize that it is the doctrine among Russian nationalists that Ukraine is an illegitimate country and the Ukrainian people are really Russians. This is what driving this war. It is Putin’s attempt to correct the mistake of Ukrainian independence, bring them back in Moscow’s rule, and erase the Ukrainian identity.
In the end, the fighting was started by Russian intervention in Ukrainian affairs, not with Ukrainian opposition to that intervention.