> are you aware that many people in southern and Eastern Ukraine do want to join Russia?
Yes, a decreasing number of them. There are legit public surveys and, if I recall correctly, even areas with lots of ethnic Russians are slightly pro-Nato. You can also have multiple election results over the years. There were lots of corruption, but you had a lot of candidates that were clearly pro- or anti-Russian. As you seem to know the area better, could you please look into this and give us some numbers. I also wonder, closer to home, what are American and Israeli “Russian” Jews think about it (some are of course Ukrainian). Are there any surveys on that?