There's one name that sums up the issues in Ukraine better than perhaps any other: Stepan Bandera [1]. He was killed in 1959, yet remains a major figure in understanding the divide in Ukraine. He was even made a Hero of Ukraine (Ukraine's highest honor) before that honor was annulled by Yanukovych (the president overthrown in 2014) on a technicality.

Going down that rabbit hole or learning about things like the "2014 Odessa Clashes [2]" (and think about how we would treat that event, or even call it, had it happened to the side that we're supposed to like) or even the Language Policy in Ukraine [3], and you can actually start to see how deep in information warfare we currently are. And it's unpleasant.

I am avoiding doing much beyond giving references for you to read yourself largely because of what you mentioned. In the current atmosphere it's basically impossible to actually discuss the war in an open fashion, and probably will remain so for years to come.

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepan_Bandera

[2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Odessa_clashes

[3] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_policy_in_Ukraine