The situation in Ukraine, Crimea, Donbas and south west Russia is quite complex.
Of course, you get useful idiots like peacefulpete who, having spent decades deriding people as racist and Little Englanders for caring about England's national interest, have now discovered how important national identity is.
Well, this complex problem won't be solved by these people. In fact, these people (e.g. Boris Johnson) have actually prolonged the war by giving Ukraine lots of free shit - munitions, tanks, etc.
I once knew a Russian student when I was at Bromley College. One day it was snowing while we walked to class. I made small talk with her, saying she should be used to the weather because she comes from Russia. She replied that she wasn't, because she came from the south. She didn't tell me exactly where she came from. But I was interested in trying to work it out. I looked at maps of Russia in winter, and realised that the further east you go, the colder it gets, even at southern latitudes. The best I could pinpoint where she came from was the furthest west, furthest south in Russia or Ukraine. She likely came from the southernmost tip of Crimea, which was still Ukrainian at the time (this was in 2009-10). And yet she still referred to herself as Russian.
There are plenty of people in Donbas and Crimea who want to be ruled by Moscow. That is just a fact that people like peacefulpete seem not to acknowledge.
This war will likely drag on until both parties get around the negotiating table. It won't be won on the battlefield - only prolonged.