Russia can't keep its forces around ukraine indefinitly. They moved to many things weakening the other borders.
The biggest threat to Russia at the moment is HATO and the location the forces are currently located is only roughly in the vicinity of the Ukraine rather that sitting right on the border. Many of the Russian forces were relocated fairly rapidly to where they are now which suggests if they need more they can boost numbers even further and if they want to de-escalate then they could do that too.
The point is that Kiev has amassed its forces on its border with Eastern Ukriane... has increased its numbers of people conscripted to the armed forces and increased the pay for all their soldiers... and I think I know which of the two countries could afford to maintain such a stance for the longest.
The Russian forces are not mobilised conscripts... whether they are where they currently are or somewhere else in Russia does not matter that much in the scheme of things... they are mobile forces that go where they are needed.
If Kiev stands its forces down I am sure Russia would reciprocate but as long as Kievs forces are poised for an attack it would not make sense for Russia to do anything else.
But they are not as stupid as you think. Thry know if russia attacks them they will loose in 2 days. So they will never attack Donbas.
It is not about stupidity, it is about desperation and who they think is on their side.
Ask the tie eater... he thought the west had his back and the open borders with SO and Abkhazia with Russia would mean Georgia had lost all control of those regions so he needed swift and decisive action... bold action to take back that land...
For Zelensky, it might just be that he faces an internal coup if he does not stand strong against Putin and Russia and seize back these regions they claim the Russians currently occupy... including Crimea.
That was followed and plenty of pictures and video show their troop mouvement there. That's not really secret. They have moved tons of mterials and now will move soldiers to man them.
The locations given for those movements are 400km away from any border with Ukraine.
And Europe would be right to think Putin is planning something worse for Europe than all out war with the Ukraine... Putin is shifting or pivoting as the west would call it... away from the west and towards the rest of the world... which is going to be quite difficult for the west to come to terms with.
Whatever will happen to the E.U. It deserves the consequences of its hubris.
The core problem is that western politicians are never held to account.... like Teflon Boris, or Tony B Liar... and so many others around the western world...
I'm certain Russia is sending weapons to the forces in DNR and LNR anyway.
I think they need to announce that in response to western countries arming Kiev to murder its own citizens in the east that Russia will supply weapons to help them defend themselves... if that does not stop the weapons supply from the west then openly supply them with a range of weapons.
Russia will seize more hardware than it will spend. They will have to thank NATO for all of that. Javelin will be funny to use against NATO tanks.
The irony is that Javelin would be most effective against T-80 and Abrams tanks with Gas Turbines because of their enormous IR signatures...
I don't think anyone will listen, the best thing is to start blowing up Ukie weapons depots.
Slip some crates of HE with long burn fuses...