The Azov, Aidar, Donbas and Dnipro battalions, financed by laundered US aid money, started to attack the Donetsk and Lugansk areas back in 2014.
The DPR and LPR regions refused to accept the legitimacy of the coup government. They chose self-rule - and thanks to the help of the friendly superpower next door, they’ve been able to resist the aggression of the coup regime.
And then they attacked the rest of the nation they are a part of, aided by the Russians.
The Ukraine suffered from election interference and Russian backed candidates taking over the government. When hundreds of thousands of citizens threw them out and then elected a new government the Russian stooges took over the Donbass region.
Now the Russians are trying to take over the entire country.