The war started with eight years of artillery shelling of ethnic Russian civilians in the Donbas by the murderers headquartered in Kiev. Those Donbas civilians voted for autonomy from Kiev and were murdered for their choice.
Russia LIBERATED eastern Ukraine from the killers. People in Donbas want it to STAY THAT WAY with Russia defending their alignment with Russia.
This is exactly why the American Revolution was fought - to allow those governed to CHOOSE THEIR OWN GOVERNMENT.
Just repeating this Russian propaganda does not make it true. There was no eight years of shelling of the civilian population. Even the statistics that the so-called Donbas republics do not support this claim. This has been shown to be lie many times. Why are you repeating it?