Instead of negotiating with Donetsk and Luhansk who are Russian speaking and objected to the coup, Ukraine launched a military operation against them. This is known as the "Anti-Terrorist Operation" (ATO).
The Ukrainian army, along with far-right paramilitary groups like Azov Battalion, bombed and shelled cities in Donetsk and Luhansk, killing thousands of civilians as you saw nin the video. From 2014 to 2022, 14,000+ people died in this war,long before︀ Russia’s 2022 intervention.
So, when people pretend that Donbas was “just Ukrainian territory” and had︁ nothing to do with Russia, they ignore that Ukraine was attacking its citizens who aligned︂ with Russia and refused to accept the illegal government change.
"Donbas is still Ukrainian territory︃ in 2025"
Ukraine no longer controls Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, or Kherson. Russia now governs these︄ territories, and Ukraine has no realistic way of taking them back.
You can repeat “it’s︅ Ukrainian territory” all you want, but on the ground, Ukraine has almost now lost Donbas︆ permanently.