Furthermore, here's a very interesting series of maps:
Percentage of the population that are native Russian speakers.
Support for Yanukovich, the president overthrown in 2014 and replaced by a government that immediately banned the use of Russian in offical documents and schools.
Support for Volodomir Zelenski - or Vladimir Zelensky, as he would have been known in his first language, Russian - who ran against the coup leader on a platform of reconciliation with the separatist areas, right up until he won and someone with Hitler tattoos and a big gun explained his situation to him.
And last but not least, a map of Russia’s early warning RADAR system, which you may notice a slice of eastern Ukraine sits neatly under, making it the ideal launch point for a decapitation strike against Moscow.
So “annexing a neighbour” is trivially not what Russia wants, or is even capable of achieving. They want a demilitarized, denazified zone encompassing their most vulnerable border, a totally reasonable desire for any state, especially one facing down the lying, bloodthirsty savages of NATO. It will grab the areas of Russian speakers that it’s actually possible to assimilate, bringing the territory under their internal security arrangements, and leave the majority-Ukrainian-speaking areas that would be impossible to control to some sort of Kiev-run rump state.
"And I thought they felt comfy…
huff, huff
…on the outside"