Fabulously wrong as always but a good argument and contrary view gets clicks. Russia wanting to settle the conflict between Kyiv and Donbas? How humanitarian of them since Russia started the conflict between Kyiv and Donbas. All the leadership of Donbas and Lugansk are Russian. Not Russian speaking Ukrainians or locals who identify as Russian, but Russian from Russia. A great deal of their troops are not local separatists but Russian soldiers “on vacation”. I literally saw at the border near Rostov the military formations hearing in to Ukraine back in 2014. My friend was a prosecutor who had to deal with Chechens who were being sent to Ukraine, again back in 2014-2015, but were smuggling weapons back to Chechnya( Russia actually dug a big ditch to slow the weapons trade back).

By the way in 1992 and 2008 Russia did exactly the same thing with Georgia. Both times it armed people and had GRU operatives and soldiers in charge and stir up stuff, then offer to be the peacekeepers to resolve things.

As for mineral wealth and lands, no Russia doesn’t need it, but it hardly wants its neighbour to be democratic, prosperous and successful. That will give Russian citizens some bad ideas. So a poorer Ukraine would do nicely for them.