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There is a great demographic divide in the regions you mentioned and an agreement to give these people their proper representation was in progress and was very likely to have succeeded this year. Of course that was before the sudden brutal invasion of the entire country began.

As far as Yanukovich, he was in process of being impeached for gross corruption and was going to be removed one way or another. He said he would not step down even if impeached. The day parliament voted 73% for his impeachment, he willingly tucked tail to Russia when he knew it was inevitable.

He placed Russia-style limits on assembly and free speech that people yearning for freedom were NEVER going to accept peacefully. Only after the subsequent crackdowns on peaceful protestors did the violence truly begin

No, Yanukovich was not constitutionally impeached. That would have made the situation legitimate. He was lawlessly deposed by an armed mob.

Yanukovich could only be removed for “treason or other crime.” The reason given by parliament for removing him was that he was “constitutionally unable to carry out his duties.” Being “constitutionally unable to carry out your duties as president” is not listed anywhere in the Ukrainian penal code as a crime. It’s not really clear what the phrase means, except perhaps that the drafters of the removal act were in a hurry and hadn’t given much thought to their legal justifications.

The first step of the impeachment procedure is for a majority of parliament to initiate the impeachment. I think it’s fair to say that a majority of parliament initiated an impeachment, but that’s the only part of the procedure that was carried out.

The second step is to create an investigation commission with a prosecutor and investigators. This was not done.

The third step is to present the conclusions and proposals of the commission to the parliament, at which point two thirds of parliament must vote to bring charges against the president. This was not done.

In the fourth step, the Supreme Court must vet the charges and determine that the acts he’s being charged with are in fact treasonous or criminal. The Constitutional Court also reviews the impeachment procedure and ensures that it complies with the constitution. This was not done.

The fifth step is the actual vote to remove the president. Removal requires that at least three fourths of parliament’s “constitutional membership” to vote in favor of removal. “Constitutional membership” is defined in Article 76 of the constitution.

The constitutional membership of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine shall comprise 450 people’s deputies…

Three fourths of 450 is 337.5. If you have one half of a people’s deputy, the other half must be near at hand, so that’s 338 votes needed to remove a president. 328 members of parliament voted for removal, ten votes shy of the three fourths super-majority needed to remove a president. Constitutionally speaking, the vote to remove him failed.