In 2014, Russia invaded Ukraine.
The whole world was so afraid of Russia, so they decided to buy into the “rebels” and “civil war” story, even though it was obvious that miners-rebels don’t come in tanks with russian IDs on them.
Throughout the initial two years of Russian invasion, we have captured hundreds of POWs, russian active duty military and secret services officers.
There was plenty of evidence, and I am sure it was just more convenient to turn blind eye because everyone- except Ukraine - thought Russia is invincible.
Every time some Russian general nowadays boasts about how he commanded operations by Russian regular troops and unofficial mercenaries such as the Wagner Group against Ukraine in Donbas in 2014–2015 (and even casually admits to committing war crimes by mistake), I feel like sending my warmest regards -- to all those who stubbornly denied Russia’s direct aggression against Ukraine back then, parroted the Kremlin’s lies about “we are not there,” the “Donbas people's militia,” and the so-called “rebels” in the name of their cherished “balance of views,” while condescendingly lecturing us about our lack of “objectivity.”