Short answers, pulled from the story.
The 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine began in the aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity, which removed pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych from power in late February 2014. Russia actively supported the resulting unrest, including through Kremlin advisers Vladislav Surkov and Sergey Glazyev, who helped organize pro-Russian protests. The unrest belongs to the early stages of the Russo-Ukrainian war.
No. A Kyiv International Institute of Sociology poll in April 2014 found majority opposition to secession in all surveyed oblasts of southern and eastern Ukraine, including 52.2% opposed in Donetsk Oblast and 51.9% opposed in Luhansk Oblast. A Donetsk Institute poll found that 66% of Donetsk residents supported remaining in a unified Ukraine, and 77% condemned the takeover of administrative buildings.
On the 2nd of May 2014, a rally of about 2,000 pro-government demonstrators was attacked by roughly 300 anti-Maidan militants in central Odesa. Fighting spread to the Trade Unions House, which caught fire. In total, 43 people died during the clashes, including 31 who died trapped in the burning building and at least three who were shot dead.
Russia and Crimea signed a treaty of accession on the 18th of March 2014, and it was ratified on the 21st of March, marked by a 30-gun salute. The referendum that preceded the annexation, held on the 16th of March, was condemned by the UN General Assembly in a 100 to 11 vote as a violation of Ukrainian constitutional law and international law.
Igor Girkin was a former officer of Russian security services who led a group of masked militants, formed in Crimea, that captured the executive committee building, the police department, and the SBU office in Sloviansk on the 12th of April 2014. His seizure of Sloviansk was a pivotal early move in the armed insurgency in Donetsk Oblast.
Journalists faced widespread harassment and violence during the 2014 unrest. Belarusian journalists were attacked on the 10th of April for speaking their own language. The offices of newspapers Pro Gorod and Provintsia were set on fire by separatists in April. Vice News journalist Simon Ostrovsky was captured in Sloviansk and held for four days. Photographer Evgenii Gapich disappeared in Horlivka and was allegedly held in detention by separatist forces.