It's all very corrupt and the economy is far from free.
Of course, they don't deserve being invaded nor conquered by Russia either.
It would have been put down quickly without putin's help but the sentiment there was very real. It's among the most pro-russian areas of the whole ukraine and yanukovych was popular. Only a minority of people there were likely to be happy about the lurch towards Europe signified by the Maidan.
It has close industrial, commercial and cultural ties to Russia.
In a reverse scenario I could well see Lviv revolting.
Then I went to Kiyv and and asked someone for directions in broken Russian. He said, "Why are you speaking Russian? We're in Ukraine, you can speak English for example". At this point I realized in the West of Ukraine there were already some tensions regarding the coexistence of these two groups.
I experienced a lot of good things both from Russians and Ukrainians and it breaks my heart to see how Putin is sending these poor guys from conscription and sends them as fodder meat. I hope there is at least one sane person around Putin and they do what others had been trying to do in such a situation[0] - but this time successfully.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assassination_attempts...
Really, there are ethic Russians all over that part of Europe, the Baltics and even Poland. But that doesn't make them Russian nationals.
Now, the mother of my friend lived there in Donbas in 2014. Since Russians took over the territory, at some point Ukrainians became unable to maintain the infrastructure, they effectively lost this land. But my friend had a lot of spite against the Ukrainian government for not providing basic amenities there anymore. Also no longer sending money like pension to people there. Which is debatable: since Russians took over the responsibility, why should Ukrainians be involved? But I understand the tragedy of individual people, without water, electricity and money, with constant fear of being shelled by either side and no refuge anywhere.
So this is how at least some Russians living in Ukraine see the situation. Maybe today a bit less, but still.