Once again, Putin has it right. And like it or not, the Ukraine is more Russian than not.
And they did elect their President.
Machiavelli said to the Prince that it is better to occupy a country than to conquer. 7 million Ukranians were killed or starved to death in the winter 1932-33. They call it Holodomor. Mothers were eating their babies to survive. http://www.holodomorct.org/
So did we, which hasn't turned out very good either.