tellamanduke

Until recently the protests seemed peaceful enough, why did it escalate so quickly and who fired first? Do you believe right wing extremists have hijacked the operation or was it a reaction to the advance of the security forces?

I don't fully get why it was called 'the' Ukraine anyway. Was it to do with it being a former soviet state so it was easier to refer to a certain region within it? (example today within Russia, the Caucasus) If so why did no other countries/states get the prefix? ELI5 please.