Hmmmmm. That's not my understanding.

I used to read The Economist quite a bit. It was clearly reporting a lot of Russian agitation throughout Ukraine. Crimea was the worst. Donbass was next. But even Kharkiv and Odessa had a strung pro-Russia sentiment. These regions had at least a significant majority of pro Russia supporters.

My relatives were in Bukovina, which is in the west. About 10% were Russians, and many of them were active in agitation.

I sort of lost touch with Ukrainian politics in 2010. My sense is that many of these regions are now solidly pro-Ukraine, with many ethnic Russians now preferring that direction. Even the Donbass seems to have changed its mind. What about Crimea? I heard many Ukrainians left that region.