Squirrelled in away in the article is this little gem admitting that pro Ukrainian view was never dominant, and at this point anybody who was pro Ukrainian left Donabas

Vladimir - the Ukrainian soldier - says the local population are “30% pro-Ukrainian, 30% pro-Russian and 40% don’t care”. Of course, many pro-Ukrainian residents have now fled.

This obviously means that any sort of insurgency the west is hoping for is a non starter, and a validation of Russian position that these regions were subjugated by Ukraine against the will of the people living there.