My reading of the situation is like yours -- Ukranian neo-Nazi paramilitaries never honored the Minsk agreements, so the separatists kept defending themselves -- but I certainly wouldn't consider myself an expert on the situation. I know a lot of similar situations kick off with mutual violence, and I don't know the merits of the separatist movement (i.e., how popular is it amongst the people living there?).
I do know that NATO doesn't give a shit about Ukraine and has nothing but bad intentions. I'm skeptical of Russian intentions, but a desire to avoid having a NATO-aligned state full of active neo-Nazi paramilitaries on its doorstep is legitimate, and they did try the diplomatic route.
My reading of the situation is like yours -- Ukranian neo-Nazi paramilitaries never honored the Minsk agreements, so the separatists kept defending themselves -- but I certainly wouldn't consider myself an expert on the situation. I know a lot of similar situations kick off with mutual violence, and I don't know the merits of the separatist movement (i.e., how popular is it amongst the people living there?).
I do know that NATO doesn't give a shit about Ukraine and has nothing but bad intentions. I'm skeptical of Russian intentions, but a desire to avoid having a NATO-aligned state full of active neo-Nazi paramilitaries on its doorstep is legitimate, and they did try the diplomatic route.
The people overwhelmingly voted for independence in the region but the dictatorship didn’t like that