The local population was more than happy to set up their own autonomous zone after the central government began discriminating against Russian-speaking citizens, even passing laws against the use of the Russian language. Putin actually asked them not to hold referendums on multiple occasions— it was only until he realized late last year that Zelensky is totally controlled by the right sector and would happily sacrifice his people for US geopolitical goals that Putin acknowledged that area could never be safe for Russian-speaking people with Kiev in charge.