It's a common baby leftist failing. Think about how many supported the libyan colour revolt uncritically, or the white hats and us aligned militias in Syria. Manufactured consent is powerful.
Of course in both cases there there were active independent socialist militias, and it's hard not to have had an idealist desire to see the DCNS win. But we should have had better material analysis.
In Ukraine it's chuds vs open fascists with an increasingly strained liberal comedian facade and the poor bastards of the Donbass republics in the middle.
I sympathise with your friend, I dearly want to see Putin get the wall but this is clearly a US destabilisation and more critically the concept of a Banderan Fascist state on the border of the EU should terrify Liberals as well far more than any Russian hegemony over its historic sphere.