> 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.
Once war starts, the demographics and history don’t mean much.
The only question is if Russia can defend Crimea. One more push south and Ukraine will have fire control over every path in and out of the region.