The Ukrainian people will be thrown under the bus for the sake of peace.
Hello Czechoslovakia 1939.
I don't know if it's that simple,
As contemptible as the most recent regime has been, the reality of the situation is that when current Ukrainian state broke off from the USSR, they claimed a lot of areas that were majority Russian, and the people in those territories weren't all that pleased with it. Crimea has had a strong secessionist movement since 1991, and this has been reflected in special autonomy granted to Crimea and special status granted to Russian as a majority language.
When the Euromaidan protestors deposed Yanukovich, they may have gotten rid of what to the world looked like a corrupt ruler, but an elected one none the less, and one who many Russians in Ukraine, especially in the east and Crimea, felt was standing up for their rights. In attempts to distance itself from Russia and become closer to the EU, the current government has abolished laws just in the past few days which granted Russian special minority language status. On top of that, there actually have been clashes between pro-Russian and pro-European Ukrainians, especially in the east.
Ukraine is certainly not completely in the right here. A large portion of Crimeans do actually want to be part of Russia. 70%+ of Crimeans and 90% of those in Sevastopol speak primarily Russian.
While this is almost certainly just serving as an excuse for Putin to grab strategically important land in the Black Sea, the will of these citizens is still relevant.
