The situation is a little more nuanced than it's being reported by UK media, I think. Firstly, it is known and accepted that the original toppling of the pro-Russian presidency in 2014 was supported and to some extent sponsored by neo Nazi factions. Although it's ludicrous to make assertions of genocide or Ukraine being a Nazi state, this is why some in the region wouldn't necessarily dismiss that claim out of hand.
Zelenskyy is hardly taking a wholly responsible approach to his citizens' safety. I'm a bit dubious about the wisdom of encouraging people to run out and buy guns and sling Molotov cocktails around.
Moreover, the allegiance of people in the Ukraine isn't necessarily as clear cut as the media makes it out to be. In Eastern areas of Ukraine, there's a majority percentage of ethnic Russian population and a lot of people don't even speak Ukrainian. Many of them objected to the "Ukrainianisation" of their regions and feel closely aligned to Russia, culturally, historically and ideologically.
Sadly, I can't see Putin's strategy failing, because they know that NATO will only declare against them militarily if they put their troops onto NATO territory - and they won't, because they seem to have no need to.
I doubt Putin has much interest in Western Ukraine (Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, etc.) and probably the goal is to cut Ukraine in half via the Dnieper and siphon off the Eastern part.