I did speak with actual Ukrainians presently living in the Ukraine, but visiting abroad for a variety reasons, not expats. Here in NYC we recently held couchsurfing/airbnb party that ended up being made up mostly of Russian, Ukrainian, and Estonian students and visiting academics, abroad for only a month or two at most, all far left of center politically. Even the Pussy Riot-supporters among the Russians were quick to circle the wagons in support of any criticism of Putin.  While the Ukrainians, some from Crimea as well as other non-Kiev areas, were quite hostile and genuinely fearful of the prospect of losing political independence, even those who didn't like the new fascists in Kiev. Is this representative of the masses in the region?  Probably not, but I kind of expected to see more ambivalence on the part of the Ukrainians regarding the prospect of Russians moving into the eastern Ukraine, but hostility to that idea was pretty universally felt. Everyone except the Russians are kind of tired of the authoritarian stuff that they continue to identify with Russia and Putin.