They were conducting ethnic cleansing in the eastern regions that refused to follow the coup. They used Nazi militias and heavy weaponry to do so. Those religions declared independence and asked Russia for help.
This is exactly what we did in Serbia for Kosovo. What goes around comes around.
Complete B.S.! There was no general ethnic cleansing. Rather, there was the attempt of Kyiv government to reestablish sovereignty over regions that had been military occupied by Russian surrogate forces. Nor did the two regions vote for independence. There were mock referenda under Russian military occupation. And even with that, the vote was for autonomy within a united Ukraine. And it was the Russian who balked, refusing to the conduct the agreed referenda because Kyiv insisted that it be done under Ukrainian auspices. The Russian excuses to justify their invasion is nothing but a pile of straw.