It's a more nuanced picture, Crimea is only 2M people out of 46M, and not all are Russian. They would actually benefit most from joining EU, because with European investment and customers, they could become a major travel destination, but the new government needs to find an approach to the region that respects their Russian identity and autonomy.
In the other regions, it's less about wanting to join Russia than not wanting some people who seized power in Kiev telling them how to live. I said before, going in seizing buildings and tearing down monuments would provoke a reaction from the locals in the east. It's basic human nature, and on top of that there is a lot of history in the east that they want respected.
Plus one of the first laws the new parliament passed to appease nationalists is banning use of Russian language in official business, which is another insult to the Russian speakers in the east, who perceive it as Ukrainian being forced on them. It's been widely condemned, including even in western Ukraine (Ukrainian speaking Lviv even had a speak Russian day to show respect for minority languages) and Europe. It's unnecessarily divisive move when the country needs unity, and a major mistake on the part of the new government. They need to learn from multicultural and multi-language countries in Europe and Canada how to manage this situation, so you can have regional cultural diversity together with a national identity. If they don't, then the country will fall apart.
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