The LPR and DPR declared independence in May 2014.
No one wanted that, especially not Russia.
As I have said, the leaders of the UN, including US, EU and Russia, wanted them to STAY PART OF UKRAINE. That was what the Minsk Accords were all about - as part of the treaty, the DPR and LPR would rejoin Ukraine as semi-autonomous oblasts, able to keep Russian as an official language, able to keep the Russian Orthodox Church, etc. - In short, the Donbas would be similar to what Switzerland has with Ticino, or what Spain has with Catalonia, or what Canada has with Quebec.
THIS IS WHAT PUTIN WANTED.
For Putin, it was much better strategically to have Ukraine as a neighbour but with a large, "Russia-friendly" VOTING population that would prevent anti-Russian governments from gaining power, passing anti-Russian laws, or launching anti-Russian wars, pogroms or other "provocations".
The Donbas as part of Ukraine would be able to ensure a balance in Ukrainian society between the Russophiles in the East and South and the Russophobes in the West.
Remember, this is what the Ukrainian electoral map looked like when “Russian-friendly” Yanukovych was elected:
But, as I have also said, the Western "guarantors" (France and Germany) as well as Ukraine itself, never intended to honor or implement the Minsk agreement - all 3 have admitted Minsk was just "a ploy to buy time" so they could build up and train Ukraine's army and prepare it for a war with Russia.
