https://natoassociation.ca/why-yanukovych-was-right-to-exercise-caution-with-the-eu-ukraine-deal-part-2/

Canadian NATO-friendly website February 9, 2014

Ukraine was hit really hard by the 2008 economic crisis and is still struggling to recover. It has beenforecast that Ukraine will be cash-strapped in the near future and are scheduled to face approximately $ 8 billion in debt repayments next year alone. Considering all of this on the horizon, it is only sensible that Yanukovych and the Ukrainian government demand that the European Union put forward a solid plan – in the interest of its citizens- to help the soften the heavy blow that the Ukrainian economy will inevitably suffer as it is exposed to a new economic market. The EU has offered just $800 million in aid as a potential insulator against the immediate effects of joining the EU. When one considers that Ukraine thinks the immediate blow of an EU deal to its economy will be in the region of $20 billion, the EU’s proposal does not even begin to address any issues. Russia on the other hand, have offered $15 billion of economic aid to Ukraine to help mitigate any potential economic disasters in the near future. Although there are doubts as to the long term effects of the Russian offer on Ukraine’s economy, Yanukovych cannot be blamed for holding out for a better deal for his country. It is what he was elected to do. Throwing his country into a monumental deal without taking into proper consideration the immediate side effects would be amateurish.

This is supposedly the match that light the "Revolution of Dignity" that completely ignored the western Ukrainian (ethnic Russian) populace.