The incident in the Kerch Strait was a planned provocation by (Petro) Poroshenko. The former president Poroshenko brought about this provocation purposefully in the course of the election campaign. He knew that the voters in the east and south of the country would not support him, and used this provocation to aggravate the situation, to introduce the state of emergency. He either wanted to introduce the state of emergency throughout the country or perhaps to postpone the elections. They wanted to keep power at all costs.
Russophobia has become a normal thing in Ukraine, even outside of politics. Cultural and educational exchanges, as well as contacts between relatives, have almost been forbidden.
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Russophobia in Ukraine. Ukraine is not a fascist, Russophobic country as often claimed by the Kremlin media. It had to react to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the war in Donbas. However, Ukraine has not forbidden contacts between citizens of Ukraine and Russia, as well as sports, cultural, scientific or other exchange. The borders [with Russia] are open. It still has direct bus and train connections with Moscow and Saint-Petersburg. 1.464 million Russian citizens visited Ukraine in 2017, placing Russia in third place behind Moldova and Belarus. The majority of Russian citizens came to Ukraine on private trips. 31,140 of Russians came as part of cultural, scientific, and educational exchanges. Ukrainians are also visiting Russia. In 2017, 4.4 million Ukrainian citizens crossed the border with the Russian Federation.