Yes, and you gave the Russian claim of a genocide as a reason for the invasion without commenting on whether it was a justified claim.
By way of a comment: it seems that from 2014, as well as pre-2012, the Ukrainian language was, in parts of Donbas where the majority are ethnic Russians, encouraged by the government merely for the sake of ensuring loyalty to Ukraine.
Russia has interpreted this as a reason to protect ethnic Russians in those areas, and I can understand their thinking. If the Ukrainian government were to be really honest, they would recognize there to be no need to hold on to control over them.
Maybe this has led to the hyper-nationalism exhibited in Poroshenko's words in 2014 about the people of Odessa being on the right track because they are pro-Ukrainian.
As I understand it Putin did not initially want Donbas to be independent. He only intervened when hypernationalists began to fight with the pro-Russian separatists. He only recognised their independence in 2022, eight years later.