DNR and LNR became nations when they declared their independence from Ukraine.
Reichskommissariat Ukraine became a nation as soon as it declared its independence from the USSR! But I must say that Reichskommissariat Ukraine had much more right to be called a country because the Ukrainian ethnic group does exist. Donbasian ethnic group doesn't.
They do not need to be 'recognized' by anyone in order to become nations. And yes, they will merge into Russia when they are back to their original borders, because such is the will of the people living there.
Nation is not the same as a country. To be a country you do need to be recognized by at least a portion of other countries. To be a nation... you need such things as culture, language, history... They are no donbasian language, culture, history.
As for the "will of the people." - 1) No one asked them. There are no legitimate government to represent them. You also have no independent sociology there 2) How about asking those who left the occupied territory to save their lives?
Nobody in Ukraine asked the people whether they want to be in Ukraine. Nobody in Ukraine asked the people in Mariupol whether they wanted to be "defended" by the Azov.
Do you even understand what nonsense your words are? Ukrainian people defend their land from invaders. Why would Ukrainian people ask themselves to defend themselves?
The 'Donbasian' ethnic group are Russian-speaking Ukrainians, Ukrainians of Russian descent and Russians of Ukrainian descent. Ethnicity is not an either/or. By saying they 'have no right' to self-determine, you oust yourself as a fascist.
There was always a legitimate government there. The Donetsk Oblast and the Luhansk Oblast are regions with local governance. Look up what an "oblast" is if you're sufficiently equipped for the task. The local government represents the people of the region, and the people of the region didn't want to stay in Ukraine. So the regions seceded.
Ukrainian people aren't defending "their" land from invaders right now. Right now the Donetsk and Luhansk militias are pushing Ukrainian invaders out of
their territories, with the help of the Russian Army. And the Russian Army is also making sure that none of the other threats the Ukrainian government poses to the people of Russia, and the people under Russia's protection, continue to be threats.
Oh, I missed this masterpiece of Z-ombie thinking
Maybe while you're there in Donetsk, asking around, you'll be hit by one of the hundreds of Ukrainian shells striking the city, and get a feel for which side is the one committing war crimes.
They bomb Donbas for 8 years!!!!
1) Ukraine has a severe lack of ammunition and artillery systems. No one will waste shells to hit civilian targets for no reason
2) If the enemy fires from within the city you will shoot back and sometimes you will miss and civilians will suffer. It is the reality of war. There were no shelling of Donetsk city since 2015. Perhaps restarting the war doesn't help safety of Donetsk, how do you think?
3) Ukraine doesn't do stuff like - hey, we know that civilians are hiding in the basement of Mariupol theater so let us drop a bunker-buster bomb to kill them just because we can. It was an intentional mass-murder of civilians. One of the many.
4) Any moron can look at fresh satellite photos and compare Donetsk which was "bombed for 8 years" and Mariupol which was "carefully liberated".
PS. Иди за русским военным кораблем
1) Ukraine had no lack of ammunition for the past 8 years. They started lacking ammunition when Russia blew up or took away most of their stockpiles. And when they spent all of their ammunition firing at Russian and LDNR troops. And now NATO is supplying them with more ammo and artillery. Several NATO 155mm shells that failed to detonate have already been recovered in Donetsk. Maybe now that DNR government asked Russia for Iskander systems to deal with Avdeevka and other artillery strongpoints around Donetsk the situation will change.
2) There is no military in Donetsk. Literally none. The only 'military' there are the people actually living there, the law enforcement and crisis response. And Donetsk has been shelled constantly since 2014. Look up reports by Patrick Lancaster.
3) Ukraine literally does it. All the time. Russian forces take care not to hit civilians, otherwise Avdeevka and the problems of shelling in Donetsk would have already been over. Not too long ago Zelensky's spokesman Arestovich said "we can shell Kherson if we want to, it's our own city". Right this moment there is several hundred civilians forcibly held in the Azot plant in Severodonetsk by the VSU, to be used as human shields. Just recently a spokesman for Ukrainian military said "the reason we fight in cities is that it makes it easier to maneuver and take cover from incoming fire, reducing our losses". The Ukrainian military right now, is a
terrorist force. And they're firing on what they insist
is their own civilians.
4) And any moron can see how much destruction was actually wrought on Donetsk. And any moron can look at Mariupol and consider that perhaps the several thousand shells Donetsk gets hit with a year, are different to several thousand shells
a day during the fighting in Mariupol, street-to-street fighting with heavy armor and terrorists hiding out in civilian buildings with Javelins and NLAWs. And any moron could also realize that, perhaps, a city that still has functioning crisis response, firefighting, and rescue services, won't suffer large-scale fires and will gradually rebuild as it takes day-to-day damage, compared to a city where none of that is possible, water supply and power has long been destroyed, every stray shell hitting a building could start a fire that nobody will put out, there are caches of weapons and ammo set up throughout causing devastating explosions when they are hit, and to top it all off the maniac "defenders" fire on anyone who moves through the streets, making damage control completely impossible.
Good day to you too.