Ukraine shares many similarities with Russia, as an ex-Soviet country, there are many Russian-speakers. I've read that the Ukrainian government was putting immense pressure on Russian-speakers, while they were being treated differently, not sure how accurate that is. From what I'm aware of, Putin was expecting to be praised as a savior in Donetsk and Luhansk, but instead, he met resistance.
It's not very accurate. They made some laws to endorse using Ukrainian language because it was barely used even in media. But Russian speaking people aren't threated differently. For example, even during war mayor of Odessa or Kharkiv, Mykolaiv governor don't have problems to use Russian language. Or Zelensky, before becoming president, being popular comedian he always used Russian language in his performances. Or you can see experience from our Ukrainian folks:
I think and speak Russian, but that doesn't stop me from feeling like a Ukrainian.~
Same here, brother. I live in Kyiv, and speak and think in Russian, and I've never had any problems with that. Even on Euromaidan no one ever asked me why I speak Russian.