Donetsk and Luhansk are only "breakaway" provinces due to initial Russian aggression by aiding and funding local terrorists to foment a conflict.

The 2014 Maidan was NOT A COUP... to say so is to repeat Russian propaganda. Any fool with a brain could see that Ukrainians would rather be more closely tied to prosperous western Europe rather than a corrupt oligarchical petro state to its east.

Was Yanukovich really elected legitimately?

-about 300,000 voters who voted but were not in the "Register of Voters of Ukraine";

— about 1.3 million voters who "without right" voted in their homes;

— about falsification in the election in the eastern regions (Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv region, Crimea, etc.) — fixed by law-enforcement officials.

This last is most obvious- Russian controlled/influenced areas casting votes for Yanukovich. Big surprise. If you think Putin - who is elected under autocracy- is not above illegal tactics to install a puppet in Ukraine.. well I have a bridge to sell

Yanukovich did NOT have the support of the Ukrainian parliament. and his steering was NOT neutral, but Russian-centric! and Yanukovich did NOT possess a democratic mandate! A majority of 328 lawmakers of the 450-seat parliament voted on February 22 to remove Yanukovych from power, citing as grounds his abandoning office - hardly a mandate.

Yanukovich also was intent on updating the country's constitution from one version to another but never signed it.

quote: "Yanukovych was due to sign a measure returning Ukraine to its 2004 constitution. In 2010, Yanukovych restored the country's 1996 constitution, which hands greater power to the presidency."

How convenient.