Not sure that's a good argument. Many in Germany also have friendships with people from Russia. Would that automatically mean that Germany has to support Russia? I doubt it.
Now? What about Kosovo* and to lesser degree other conflicts in ex-Yugoslavia? Germany even had an active role in that.
Montenegro gets to declare independence, but Republika Srpska doesn't because Serbs don't matter.
Kosovo must be recognized as an "independent country" right next to Albania, but Eastern Ukraine never.
South Sudan, Eritrea, the list of "approved" places that are permitted independence, goes on and on.
Kosovo* is more comparable to Srpska in Bosnia or Krajina in Croatia, or Crimea and Donbass. While Montenegro is more like Scotland situation in the UK.
It is just Ukraine, no “the” required nor preferred.
Or go campaign for a while for the French to drop the article from "Le Danemark", or something equally useful.
There is also the European perspective. The cornerstone of European piece policy has been the integrity of state borders. This is now violated, so this is of very grave concern.
Putin himself stated yesterday, that he considers the Ukraine a part of Russia, so there is concern that he won't stop anytime soon, unless stopped. Ironically, an occupation of the Ukraine makes him what he claimed to try to prevent - a direct neighbor to the NATO states. We can only hope he stops before attacking NATO.