The region doesn’t rely on the US, the post-2014 fascist government that doesn’t care about the wishes of eastern Ukrainians does.

There wasn’t a problem here until the US-backed coup in 2014 and subsequent killing of eastern Ukrainians and Crimeans (if you’re wondering why Crimeans overwhelmingly support Russia) by the coup gov for resisting, which also doesn’t respect the Minsk agreements to stay neutral.