Comment by koiueo

Oh, they gave a lot of fucks. They ensured russian language has a special status in Ukrainian constitution, for example, despite freedom of speech and non-discrimination were already there. They ensured the presidential candidate with strong nationalistic views, arguing for severing ties with russia, won't make it to elections. They financed political parties pulling Ukraine back to russia.

There might've been a temporary loss of russian grip on Ukraine in those turbulent times, but that was just a tiny blip on the scale of whole timeline