A few months ago, the Russian government was trying to woo Ukraine into an "economic union" with Russia. Cue street protests, a president that flees, and new democratic elections for a president that the people actually want. Now, Russia is shooting rockets and artillery into Ukraine. That has to be the worst case of sore-loserism and poor sportsmanship I've ever seen. All Russian behaviour does is prove to Ukrainians that they made the right choice in steering their country away from a madman. Friends and an "economic union" with Russia was in fact a trap, and Ukrainians knew this very well. Today's news proves every worst fear Ukrainians had about Russia.
The point is, Ukrainians aren't chosing to be USA's puppet, or the EU's puppet, or whatever. Ukrainians are choosing to live a normal life that's not influenced by complete psychopaths. The worst and ugliest EU or USA can do to Ukraine doesn't compare to what Russia has already done. So from the Ukrainian point of view, talking about US or EU "puppet strings" is a complete joke. You should try talking about something serious.