I'd like to highlight the following extract from commenter Ashepe:
What is it like to be a Russian in Ukraine? How many of them see anything other than what Russian TV tells them? Are the seeds of future civil wars being sown? Wouldn't it even be better for Russian politicians if the problem were entirely internal -- if some sort of fight between Ukrainian Russians and Ukrainians started while Russia benevolently tsk-tsks on, till the situation gets so difficult that Russian intervention becomes "unavoidable"?...
The problems of the " Civil war " in Ukraine relies in the map below :( temporary link )
http://cjoint.com/?fyr5lqHZPA*
The North-South historical settlements of Ukraine connected with the East-West historical dividings created 7 or 8 different " Ukraines " .
Kyiv is only imposing its views to the whole Ukraine as far as it can create an " Lvyiv - Kyiv - kharkyiv " axis but how much Lvyiv and Kharkyiv have the same interests and agenda than Kyiv on the long term is to debate .
Lvyiv is by many aspects a " Mitteleuropa " town and Khrkyiv has slavo-russian roots .
As " Ashepe " noted Ukraine looks by some ways like some African states ( see the works of Kotto Essome in the 70's on this issue ) in its creation .
The ideology that Kyiv promotes and its compulsive Ukrainization of Crimea eg shows a typical " Center - periphery complex " and denotes a lack of strength and confidence in a " positive " national legend .
They cast themselves as " resistants "( to the " Muscovite yoke " ) but only succeded to unearth Mazeppa and Peltliura as " Ukrainian heroes " , more or less like Briton's separartists in France unearth Briton political leaders of the 30's , who were closed to fascists , on the only " quality " they opposed to the French Jacobinites from Paris .
It's interresant to see that the " Russophiles " or Yanukovich voters are nearly all located on the former " Greek settlements and ottoman empire " southern strata of Ukraine and the potatoe , sunflower and cattle breeding regions .
* ( c ) Geographie Universelle - Roger Brunet - Vilette Rey - BELIN RECLUS