Oops is, yet again, a Crimean term

The BBC and Time have articles about the latest in the Crimea:

From an article by Gavin Hewitt from the BBC:

The Crimea's parliament has formally declared independence from the Ukraine and asked to join the Russian Federation. It follows a controversial referendum which officials say overwhelmingly backed leaving the Ukraine.
The Ukranian government in Kiev has said it will not recognize the results. The US and EU say the vote was illegal and have vowed to impose sanctions on Moscow.
The Crimean peninsula has been under the control of pro-Russian forces since late February. Moscow says the troops (photo) are pro-Russian self-defense forces and not under its direct control.
Going forward, the EU will have to review whether it is too dependent on Russia for energy. Whether EU officials realised it or not, they have got drawn into a much bigger and more dangerous game than pressing for enlargement. This week the challenge for the EU must be to show resolve and unity. Any divisions will be exploited by Russia. Resolve will be to deliver on consequences warned about.
The crisis follows the ousting of the Ukraine's pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovych on 22 February 2013. His decision to reject a long-awaited trade deal with the EU in favor of closer ties with Moscow sparked months of street protests, culminating in deadly clashes.
The Ukraine's interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has called the vote "a circus performance" backed up by "twenty thousand Russian troops who, with their guns, are trying to prove the legality of the referendum".
The vote was boycotted by many among Crimea's minority Ukrainians and Tatars, who together constitute about a third of the population, and the election process has been widely criticized.
The BBC's Ben Brown says a "huge number of people in the minority population" abstained from Sunday's vote.
According to the declaration approved by Crimean MPs, the region:

• becomes an independent state and applies to formally join Russia, with some autonomy
• will adopt the Russia rouble as its currency within a month
• will move to Moscow time (GMT+4 and two hours ahead of Kiev time) on 30 March 2014
• will offer Crimean soldiers the chance to join the Russian military

Meanwhile, the parliament in Kiev has formally approved the partial mobilization of forty thousand reservists.
Andriy Parubiy, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, said what had taken place in the Crimea was "blatant aggression" and that the mobilization would prevent similar action in south-eastern Ukraine, which has seen pro-Moscow rallies in recent weeks.
According to the vote in the Crimean parliament, Ukrainian laws now no longer apply in the region, and all Ukrainian state property belongs to an independent Crimea. The peninsula will adopt the Russian currency, the ruble, and clocks will move two hours forward to Moscow time by the end of March. The document approved by Crimean MPs also appealed to "all countries of the world" to recognize Crimean independence.
The Crimea's pro-Russian leader Sergei Aksyonov tweeted that, in the wake of the vote, Moscow had given the Crimea financial assistance amounting to fifteen billion rubles, or more than four hundred billion dollars, which he said doubled the region's budget. He said he was traveling immediately to Moscow to discuss the next steps.
Many Tatars refused to take part in the poll, which did not give the option of maintaining the status quo.
Russia is now expected to fast-track legislation enabling it to absorb the Crimea. President Vladimir Putin is to address both houses of parliament on Tuesday. The Crimea has been under the control of pro-Russian armed forces since late February of 2014. The referendum was called by the Crimean parliament in early March of 2014, with voters asked to choose between joining Russia or having greater autonomy within the Ukraine. There was no option for those who wanted the constitutional arrangements to remain unchanged.
The Crimea's chief electoral official, Mikhail Malyshev, said the vote was nearly 97% in favor of joining the Russian Federation, with a turnout of 83%. But Crimea's Tatars, about twelve percent of the population, expressed fears their lives would be worse under the Kremlin. The Tatars were deported to Central Asia by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in 1944. They were only able to return with the fall of the Soviet Union, and many want to remain under Ukrainian rule. Many ethnic Ukrainians, who make up 24% of the Crimea's population, also said declined to vote.
The EU, which has already suspended talks on an economic pact with Russia and an easing of visa restrictions, is discussing its response. Speaking in Brussels, Belgium, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the "so-called referendum" was illegal under Ukrainian international law, and called on Russia to begin a dialogue with Kiev to "try to move to de-escalation as quickly as possible". The EU "can't simply sit back and say this situation can be allowed to happen", she added. The bloc hoped to send "the strongest possible signals to Russia, a signal trying to ensure that they understand the seriousness of the situation". EU foreign ministers are expected to discuss a possible visa ban and an asset freeze against a number of Russian officials.
The White House has described Russia's actions in the Crimea as "dangerous and destabilizing", and said the international community would not recognize the results of a poll "administered under threats of violence". 

From Time, by Nate Rawlings:

Lawmakers in the southern breakaway region have declared independence from the Ukraine, saying it's now a separate state that seeks to join Russia, less than a day after voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum ruled illegitimate by the US and European powers. Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a meeting with members of the government at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence in Moscow on 5 March 2014.
Crimea’s parliament declared that the region is an independent state a day after residents voted overwhelmingly to break away from the Ukraine and seek to become part of Russia. The announcement followed a region-wide referendum, in which residents of the autonomous and contested peninsula voted to secede from the Ukraine and join Russia. With about half of the votes counted, roughly 95 percent of Crimeans had voted to split from the Ukraine, according to an election official cited by the Associated Press. The Crimean parliament announced that it would begin implementing the secession, first by seizing all Ukrainian state property, which it said will be nationalized and become the property of the Crimean Republic. A delegation of Crimean lawmakers will travel to Moscow to discuss how to proceed with officially joining the Russian Federation.
After Sunday’s vote, President Barack Obama told Russian President Vladimir Putin that Crimea’s vote to secede and join Russia “would never be recognized” by the United States, and warned against pushing the Russian military further into southern and eastern Ukraine. Obama told Putin “a diplomatic resolution cannot be achieved while Russian military forces continue their incursions into Ukrainian territory and that the large-scale Russian military exercises on Ukraine’s borders only exacerbate the tension,” according to a statement from the White House.
The US has called for tough economic sanctions against Russia. But some European countries like Germany, which rely on Russia for a significant portion of their energy supply, have been hesitant in recent weeks to commit to firm economic punishments. The U.S and the E.U. are expected to announce sanctions on Monday, while Secretary of State John Kerry continues to speak almost daily with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in an effort to find a diplomatic solution.

Rico says that the Crimea is no more attached to Russia than Alaska is to the US, but (fortunately) Canada isn't at war with us. (And what do you want to bet that Russia starts building a bridge over that strait to Kerch...)