How can you initially determine the cause of a new version of code failing in Kubernetes?

To initially identify the cause of a new code version crash in Kubernetes, follow these steps:

1. Check the status of pods with the command:

kubectl get pods

2. View logs of the crashed pods:

kubectl logs <pod-name>

3. If the pods are in CrashLoopBackOff state, you can check events:

kubectl describe pod <pod-name>

4. Check the deployment status and revision:

kubectl rollout status deployment/<deployment-name>

5. If necessary, verify the configuration of ConfigMap and Secret, which might have affected the operation.

These actions will help quickly localize the problem — for example, application log errors, volume mounting issues, configuration errors, or resource problems.