People’s Republics??
It recalls the short-lived Soviet republics established in the region in the early 1920s. Events are moving forward over Kiev’s objections. The choice of name for the proposed new federation is not a coincidence.
Historically, what is now eastern Ukraine was known in Czarist times as “New Russia” due to settlement by Russian speakers. It can be seen as an extension of “Old Russia” - present day Russia.
If you’re wanting to alarm the Kiev backers, you’re missing the bigger point: Novorussia isn’t the Donbas! It’s Tsarov’s own region of all of Southern Ukraine, including Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Zaporizhia Oblast, Mykolaiv Oblast, Kherson Oblast, Odessa Oblast (and Crimea and Donetsk). You and I certainly differ about whether the Donetsk elections legitimately represent Donetsk self-rule, but I’m highly dubious that some of the southern oblasts want to leave the Ukraine. If there’s anywhere near a level of support that makes the suggestion plausible, Kiev has screwed the pooch so hard it isn’t funny.