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You might want to read more carefully. Of course their tanks and everything else were Russian. That’s the only brand of equipment anyone has in that neck of the woods. Defections from the Uke regime put that equipment in the hands of the pro-Russia side. Obviously Russia is helping them plenty now, but not much help was available when they were being shelled by nazis.

"Ukraine launched a military counter-offensive against pro-Russian forces in April 2014, called the "Anti-Terrorist Operation"[44] (ATO) from 2014 until 2018, when it was renamed the "Joint Forces Operation" (JFO).[45]: 4 [46] By late August 2014, this operation was able to vastly shrink the territory under the control of pro-Russian forces and came close to regaining control of the Russia–Ukraine border.[47] In response, Russia abandoned its hybrid approach and began a conventional invasion of the Donbas.[47][48] Following reports of Ukrainian positions being shelled from the Russian side of the border, between 22 and 25 August 2014, Russian artillery, personnel, and what Russia called a "humanitarian convoy" crossed the border. Russian crossings reportedly occurred both in areas that were controlled by pro-Russian forces and those that were not, such as the south-eastern part of Donetsk Oblast, near Novoazovsk.[49][50] The Head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, called the events of 22 August a "direct invasion by Russia of Ukraine",[51] while other Western and Ukrainian officials called it a Russian "stealth invasion".[50] Russia's official position on the presence of Russian forces in the Donbas has been vague; while official bodies have denied the presence of "regular armed forces" in Ukraine, it has on many occasions confirmed the presence of "military specialists", along with other euphemisms, usually accompanied by an argument that Russia "was forced" to deploy them to "defend the Russian-speaking population."[52][53]"

“Russia is helping them plenty now, but not much help was available when they were being shelled by nazis.”

Not true. Russia had assets in eastern Ukraine from at least 2014 (though not in the numbers it amassed in 2022). Russia supplied the separatists with the Buk SAM platform, one of which shot down the civilian airliner Malaysian Air Light MH17 in July, 2014 above eastern Ukraine, some 30 miles from the Russian border, in area occupied and controlled by the pro-Russia separatists. There is suspicion that the missile was actually fired by a Russian crew. In any event, that battery was pulled out and brought back to Russian territory either later that day, or the next.