Great post, but I don't know why federalization should be such a threat to Kiev?
Lots of countries are federations and nobody is suggesting they are about to split up.. The USA, Switzerland with its cantons that have great independence, Germany more or less where some areas are run very differently from others and the UK functions as a federal state with local governments in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast and the central government in London.
It seems like a sensible way to keep a country together, despite the fact that different parts of the country have different interests.