Sure, that's why he's been fighting them ferociously for nearly two years. Putin's actual pawn got run out and Zelenskyy was elected in his place. Putin invaded partially because he no longer had a subservient satellite.
&KZadBhat: Friend of mine is married to a Ukrainian woman whose dad was a Red Army officer. They lived in Donets and fled to Kyiv when the separatist fighting started.
And they're ethnically Russian. But they've lived in Ukraine for 40-plus years and hate Putin. They're proud to be loyal Ukrainians now.