Considering the experience of the Holodomor is seared into the Ukranian conscience,
I think it was more what Putin said than Holodomor. He literally said many times Ukraine was an illegitimate nation and he was going to wipe them off the map. The Ukrainians took him at his word and fought like wildcats like anybody would when faced with that.
Putin thought he could replay 2014. Run the Ukrainians out of ammo while the west abandoned them. He misread the political situation, too. No doubt thinking the west was divided. I’m sure the neo isolationist delusions on right got lots of play in Russia. He thought his enemy was weak and whiteout support. He was 1000% wrong
Crimea, Dontesk and Lutansk are all Russian speaking. Now he is in the heartland of Ukraine. His best bet is to take capital and then call for a cease fire immediately. But the way things look, even if he takes the capital, Ukrainians may not agree to a cease fire.