That's because Donbass is seen as useless. It's like bombing upstate New York or Michigan when invading the US.
Hey, many tears would be shed for the Traverse City Cherry Festival, i’ll have you know.
Doesn’t Eastern Ukraine have more resources and more ethnic Russians?
Eastern Ukraine had more Ukrainians who had russian language as primary one, but they are not ethnic russians. Also this is the result of the ethnic cleansing and mass deportation of Ukrainian people russians did for the last two senturies.