What if your mud hut is located next to the house of a wealthy neighbor, who can stand up for himself and has a tank in the garage against your stinking sawn-off shotgun?
Maybe live in peace with him and trade things?
But no! Shit at his door, yap over the fence, be a moron, as you Big massa from White house orders. Be Ukraine!
You see, situation becomes much more complicated when you have more than one wealthy and powerful neighbor and don't really control your household.
From your point of view, the Ukrainians are Russians, pretending to be Non-Russians, Russians must be controlled by Moscow, therefore those political Ukrainians are traitors and mutineers.
From some western points of view, the Russians are Europeans, pretending to be Non-Europeans, Europe must be controlled by Brussels and Washington, therefore those political Russians are traitors and mutineers.
From the Ukrainian point of view, the Ukrainians are not Russians, because only Ukrainians are 'real Russians', and the Russians are not Russians, but Finns, Tatars, Hungarians, Iranians, Mongols, etc.
Same way, from some Russian points of view only Russians are 'real Europeans', because Europeans are freaks, homosexuals, drug-addicts, 'possessed by green demons' (zelenobesy), Nazies, Satanists, etc...