Realization that Russia will never give up Crimea, which was annexed without a fight in 2014 and a plebiscite that had more than 80% of the population, overwhelmingly Russian-speaking, voting to rejoin Russia.
> Realization that Russia will never give up Crimea... <
Yep. Demographics aside, Crimea was actually part of Russia proper until the Soviets arbitrarily gave it to Ukraine in 1954. So it can be argued that Crimea really should belong to Russia.
Ukraine however is a far different story.
“a plebiscite that had more than 80% of the population, overwhelmingly Russian-speaking, voting to rejoin Russia.”
What percent of Kherson “voted” the same way to join Russia, only to joyfully welcome Ukrainian liberators a few weeks later.