“they can’t trust vast swaths of their military. Thus, the Ukraine’s only hope is for outside assistance.”
So if parts of their military is not upset enough to fight, or worse, wants to switch sides,,,,, we should fight on their behalf? And for what?? To liberate a place where Russians have had a fleet since the fleet consisted of sailing ships?
Folks in those bases *shouldn't* fight; they're a tripwire force provisioned for peacetime. They're completely surrounded, outnumbered and outgunned - they'd be massacred. Ukraine has so few lifers in its military, it can't afford to sacrifice these men. They need to leave the Crimea and begin realistic training for war, using live ammo, as well as do any number of show and tell demonstrations for the draftees showing up en masse.
Only after its military's preparations for armed conflict are complete will the Ukrainians be in a position to eject the Russians, if the government so chooses. Nobody knows what the Ukrainian government has decided, but assuming the general mobilization order isn't just rhetoric, the Ukrainians will take months to get fully ready to fight. Given that Uncle Sam took 6 months to get ready for Desert Storm, I'd expect a couple of months minimum, for Ukraine to get some of its professionals ready to mount hit-and-run raids into the Crimea against Russian patrols and outposts, based on intel gathered from loyal Crimeans, while having prepared defenses to ambush Russian units engaged in cross-border hot pursuit operations.
The moment the first martyrs to the cause appear in the headlines, there's a possibility that the Ukraine will finally be committed. After that, it's only a matter of time before the Russians leave. The earlier they leave, the lower the body count and financial expense on both sides.
In fact, May 25, the date that Ukrainians choose a new president, coincides with roughly the 3rd month of Russian occupation. If Ukrainians elect a war president, his taking office will coincide with the date that the Ukrainian military attains some semblance of war-readiness. During the Korean War, US forces were driven 200-odd miles south by a North Korean military armed with WWII surplus Russian equipment, and corralled inside the Pusan Perimeter. It was almost three months from the start of the war before the US was able to make advances against the North Koreans, starting with the landing at Inchon.