Im clueless here - are there actual canonical issues or is this a geo-political schism?
Both. Ukraine has been under the canonical authority of Moscow without challenge since 1686. Effectively it was much longer than that. There has never been an independent Ukraine in the history of the world before 1918. Since the end of the cold war, western governments and their intelligence services having been trying to pull Ukraine out of Russia’s generally recognized sphere of influence. They helped to orchestrate the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Ukraine that favored closer ties with Russia based on their shared history and culture. They have also been encouraging Ukrainian nationalists in their efforts to divide the Orthodox Church in Ukraine. The Russian Church long ago granted the right of autonomy, within the broader framework of the Russian Orthodox Church to the local church in Ukraine. But a series of schismatic churches were founded by disaffected nationalist clergy. None of these were ever recognized by any canonical Orthodox Church... until last week.
The Ecumenical patriarchate and Moscow have a long history of chilly relations. And to be fair there is some blame to go around.
Most recently Patriarch Bartholomew was incensed by Moscow’s refusal to play along with his very controversial “Ecumenical Council” in Crete. Several other churches also boycotted because of its modernist and ecumenist tendencies.
Bart has since claimed that the settlement of 1686 was only temporary and that he was now reclaiming jurisdiction over Ukraine from Russia and he established full communion with the largest of the schismatic bodies last week in defiance not only of Moscow but virtually the whole of the Orthodox Church. His announced intention to create an autocephalous Ukrainian Church is clearly intended to split the Russian Church which Bart has long seen as too large and powerful. This is being done with the enthusiastic support of the western press and governments.
However, it is looking like Bart has miscalculated, possibly very badly. The reaction to all of this has been extremely negative from the other local churches who are, rightly IMO, accusing the EP of behaving like an Orthodox pope and ignoring church canons. The late Patriarch Athenagoros of blessed memory even issued a formal letter expressly stating that no single church could grant autocephaly unilaterally, but that such a thing required the consent of the universal church.
We shall see where the goes but already the Serbians have flatly stated that the EP has overstepped his authority.