And the Donbas region does not want to be part of Ukraine, plain and simple.
Everything you accuse Russia of doing now, Ukraine has been doing far worse in the Donbas for the past decade...with zero complaints from the liberal world.
Take the log out of your eye.
Donbas was officially part of Ukraine before Russian forces went in and created separate entities.
Ukraine didn’t invade them, they were part of Ukraine that broke away
That’s quite different.
The analogy would be if North Dakota was invaded by Canada (:)) ) and made a separate country. The US would be fully in its rights to try and take it back