Yes, that was also a bit surprised to me when I visited Crimea and discovered that practically all people Russians. Speaking only Russian, knowing only some words in Ukrainian, but only watching Russian TV, reading Russian papers, having most writings everywhere in Russian (or both languages) and feeling Russian. But none of them had any negative feelings toward Ukrainians (at that time), they were getting along in a normal way.

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...