I missed the first part of the question, but essentially my understanding of the so-called pro-Russian groups in Ukraine, particularly in Donetsk and Luhansk, is that much of this has been fabricated by the Russian Federation; that is, there were legitimate minority language issues that needed to be addressed. Some were addressed and some were not. That is clearly an issue that Ukraine needs to deal with in the future. There was no persecution of Russian speakers anywhere in Ukraine. In fact, Russian speakers enjoyed widespread freedoms, the same as any other Ukrainian citizen.
The invasion of Ukrainian lands by the Russian Federation was, in my view, an attempt to destabilize Ukraine, where the popular national will was for a turn toward Europe; where that was blocked by President Yanukovych, leading to some of the violence you saw in the Euromaidan, and leading then to the invasion of portions of Ukraine, including the occupation of Crimea; where a referendum was then staged under military occupation, the results of which no country in the world accepts—except, of course, the Russian Federation. There was subsequently the illegal annexation of Crimea into the Russian Federation, which again is something that no western country accepts.
As for the purpose of this, I agree in part with my colleague Dr. Kuzio. He outlined five theories, or views, on the war in Ukraine. I think a combination of all of those is at play, but certainly one of the major issues is this unwillingness on the part of many Russians, including Mr. Putin, of course, at the top, to give up the archaic notion that somehow Ukrainians and Russians are one people, “people of one blood”, as they would say. This is a fantasy concocted by Moscow many centuries ago and which has been perpetuated through the Soviet period and now in the post-Soviet period. The shock many Russians felt in 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed and Ukraine declared its independence, and the notion that Ukraine might be a legitimate state in Europe, is something that many have not been able to cope with.
Putin, on the other hand, by his aggressive measures directed against Ukraine, has perhaps rallied his own nation but certainly has also rallied Ukraine. I noticed among Russian-speaking Ukrainians not only an intense patriotism but a certain and positive desire to ensure that all Russian invaders are driven from their lands. So, Putin, ironically it has sometimes been claimed has almost created the modern Ukraine in this war of independence. As for the long-term goals to destabilize Ukraine to keep a large and potentially prosperous country out of the European Union and keep the Russian imperial project alive, and that is that humpty dumpty project I referred to.... Where I will disagree with Dr. Kuzio is I don't think the Russian project is succeeding; in fact, I'm fairly sure it will fail, although at great cost.