What did Washington expect to gain from a successful coup d'état in Ukraine?

It gained little enough from the "Orange Revolution" in 2005 that first put Viktor Yuschenko and Yuliya Tymoshenko into power in independent Ukraine. Their power produced rivalry, as well as a return of corruption to national government (the Orange Revolution, so-called, was itself inspired by popular protests against corruption in the preceding government of Viktor Yanukovych, causing his ouster).

Yanukovych, of course, returned to power in 2010 (with 48 percent of the vote), after which Yuliya Tymoshenko was conveniently charged and imprisoned on corruption charges.