Yes, there were elections where at most only 18M people voted, compared to the 24M people that voted when the pro-Russian candidate won, in 2010. Because there were almost no ballot station in those regions leaning more towards Russia. Yet the government didn't think that was a problem at all; in fact, it was good for them (imagine if Trump could just make that people in some blue states couldn't vote). All this in a climate with banned parties and where all the media was controlled by the "Maidan" parties.
So it doesn't look the situation in Ukraine was very democratic either.
If he would barely speak Ukrainian, communicate mostly in Polish instead of Ukrainian, sacrifice his country’s interests in favor of Poland for 15 billion instead of following EU integration path, then yes – he was a Polish puppet all along.
Well, Zelensky actually barely speaks Ukrainian. He communicates mostly in Russian. As for his country's interests, we'd better wait to see how Ukraine is after all this finishes, and who are the biggest beneficiaries, in comparison to how it was when his term began.