Western media ignores that for over than 8 years Donetsk People's Republic and Lugansk People's Republic are suffering from Ukrainian aggression. It all started back in 2014, when USA supported far-right coup wasn't supported by many regions in the Eastern part of Ukraine.
People in Eastern Ukraine is mostly Russian speaking and they wanted to be represented and respected. After the coup, the new government supported and encouraged the nazis, who helped them to get to the top. The social stigma against Eastern Ukrainians got even worse than it had already been. Apart from cultural, there were also economical consequences and perspectives that made people worry about the coup. There were no calls for independence from Ukraine at the beginning. People wanted autonomy to make their voice in politics stronger. They organized rallies against the right tendencies and demanded more autonomy in economical questions.
Ukrainian army with neo nazi battalions have been shelling Donetsk People's republic and Luhansk People's republic since then. Western and Ukrainian media don't want to acknowledge what this is Ukrainian side who's been killing and wounding people. For example, OSCE reported on February, 19 this year: "Observers from the OSCE European security body on Saturday reported more than 1,500 ceasefire violations in east Ukraine in a single day, the highest number this year. In a report covering attacks on Friday, its monitors recorded 591 breaches in Donetsk and 975 violations in neighbouring Lugansk, two regions partly held by Russian-backed separatists".