Even the majority of -Crimeans- voted to become an independent nation, although it wasn't much higher than 50%. But let's remember that Russia -itself- chose to leave the Soviet Union. -Everyone- thought that the Soviet Union was essentially the Titanic that had struck its iceberg and it was time to abandon ship. Much more telling is the fact that in order to get these numbers, the fledgling Ukrainian government promised that the Russian language and customs of eastern Ukrainians would be respected. Clearly that was a promise that was brutally broken after Euromaidan.
I remember watching a documentary where both pro European and pro Russian sides told each other they could either "go to Europe" or "go to Russia". What neither really thought much about is that for both sides, where they were was there home. It's not easy to just "relocate" somewhere else. That being said, many did. Those that stayed decided they'd rather weather a civil war then leave. It was their choice to make, sure, but I think we can all agree that they would have preferred simply avoiding the war to begin with. There's clear evidence that most western Ukrainians wanted the civil war to end long ago and that Zelensky was elected based on his promises to resolve the civil war diplomatically. The far right had other plans. Backed by the U.S., Zelensky walked back his promises and even initiated a renewed assault on the Donbass region days before Putin finally decided to start a military operation in Ukraine of his own. The rest is history.
