Klumpen0815: What I still didn't get: Why does the Ukranian population let themselves get drawn into this mess?
Depends upon which population. Donbass population had no choice, you can't stop motar shell except by taking arms. As of pro-maidan population, here is a sample:
https://youtu.be/qOCAqxrytIE?t=3m6s - Mykhailo "Kossak" Gavrylyuk, avid Maidan supporter and right-wing, being asked a question to "Why did you vote to switch from russian gas import to european gas, where you knew that its the same russian gas plus x-fer costs via europe, thus it just costs much more" - says "I just pressed a button." Thats the IQ level.
Klumpen0815: What is there to gain for either side? Does it make any difference in their day-to-day lifes where their country "belongs to"? How exactly did this start on the local level and why?
"What difference does it make, we just want to have decent life" was exactly the position of East ukrainians, who are now shelled.
"Ukraine above all" was position of West ukrainians.
Its a clash between US-brainwashed (Biden, McCain, Zbigniew, Clintons & co) west and rational east. The west stood for "euro-association" and "free (tourist) visa", where east stood for "industrial cooperation and jobs". Then the west performed maidan, threw a corrupt oligarch and replaced it with a slimy corrupt oligarch-dictator.
East explicitly opposed Poroshenko and demanded fair proper elections. West saw this as attempt to nullify maidan results and answered with army, which was composed to 50% with
far-right nationalists.
This conflict has been cooked for long time, people were slowly conditioned into believing that they are oppressed by Russia and that Ukraine is center of "slavic aryan excellence" and that US will make them rich and "independent". Or at least will grant a free visa, so they can all move there, get rich by doing nothing.
Crimea is different, because its historically and ethnically russian, people just got fed up with "Ukraine above-all" brainwashing and
"visa"-jumping, plus Russia had interest of
not-loosing its
existing military presence. Sevastopol is naval military city. People have nothing against "Ukrainian" culture (in quotes, because Ukraine is just 20 years old, that culture is definitely artificially put together, but neverless), but everything against far-right Bandera-lism.
Klumpen0815: I seem to miss the practical side of all that, it looks like a jumbled political mess with people being thrown into chaos and death for virtual/political reasons.
If you mean who backed the conflict up, it were some influential people in US gas and oil industry, just wanting to enter European market, plus make Russia look like aggressor because it has been slowly recovering its independent economy and military later. The root are pure business interests, executed in Sicilian mafia style.
Klumpen0815: To me it looks as if there were some strange people going all Russia fanboy and starting to riot for no good/real reason and get used by Russia. How did that actually start? With Russian agent provocateurs? With some backwards UDSSR freaks out of their own volition?
Everything one gets to read about all this seems extremely threadbare (fadenscheinig).
Thats because you did little research yourself...
Here is video of pretty rational, neutral west ukrainian.