I’m sure Russia had to hold, (at gunpoint?) the people of Donbas who had been shelled for 8 years by the Ukrainian government to get them to vote to leave Ukraine. Or the people of Crimea who had already voted to leave Ukraine before the Russian Federation even existed.
Ah yes, “free” as opposed to »free« Ukrainian elections.
In free, western Ukrainian elections, the ruling party simply bans opposition parties that they don’t approve of and seizes their assets.
You acknowledge that people have a right to defend themselves, and be supplied weapons to that effect. Your usage of “propped up” also suggests you acknowledge that there were legitimate separatist sentiments in Ukraine in 2014. Why do your principles of armed self determination break down when applied to Donbas? Seems that “tankie” is your word for “someone that believes in self determination”.
When did that happen tankie?
Minsk 2, proposed by Russia, outlines that control of the border should be restored to Ukraine, and that Donbas should be reintegrated democratically back into Ukraine with a level of federalization to protect it from future lapses in Ukrainian democracy.
Interesting how dronies keep saying that the east is forcing Donbas to keep fighting. But when Russia suggests they give some land to Ukraine to stop the war, Donbas gets offended and want to keep fighting. 
These weapons are the kind of thing the Ukrainians have developed to “retaliate” against random civilian housing blocks whenever Russia craters a command center. They’re basically modern V1/V2 rockets “This will terrify the russian population into submission!!”