"Russian President Vladimir Putin, Heads of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik sign decree to recognise Ukrainian regions as independent entities, in Moscow, Russia."
And
"The Kremlin’s official move comes shortly after Putin’s lengthy address to the nation on Monday evening. In it, he explaiened the step as a long overdue response to what he described as the “brotherly” Ukrainian nation becoming a “colony” of the West and falling under the rule of a “russophobic” government both hostile to Moscow and denying ethnic Russians and Russian-speakers basic human rights."

[rt.com]

What has Ukraine, US, EU, France or Germany done to protect the rights of the people in the breakaway regions? It seems that they have done nothing more than promote & inflame the genocidal situation.
Russia shows video of destroyed Ukrainian invaders’ vehicles [rt.com]