No, this is, I think, an outdated analysis. Following the Maidan Revolution, a unified Ukrainian nation was born. Even the East -- Donetsk and Luhansk and not at all pro-Russian, even though an insurgency could be sustained there with Russian aid. If Russia succeeds in lopping off Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk, they will have to keep an occupational force there for a long time (probably manned by North Caucasus Muslims); the rest of Ukraine will remain unified and very anti-Russian.
do not worry the non-Russians will be heavily punished and some of them sent to Siberia. The Russians already have captured pilots being sent off for “psychiatric care” like they used to do to political prisoners.
But these are just “rebels”... lol