This is a case of victim-blaming. Russia has been responsible for the deaths of citizens of other nations for decades, yet no one was willing to go to war over it. Prior to the conflict in 2014, no Russians had been killed, so they fabricated a narrative about a "Nazi regime in Ukraine" in order to justify starting the war. Once the war had begun, talk of provocation became meaningless. Ukraine has every right to defend itself by any means necessary, including weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear weapons.