Let's start by summarizing the attitude of Russia in two sentences:
The first sentence: Russia already has more than 17 million square kilometers of territory, which is big enough and much more, and Russia does not need new territories, but needs to have good, friendly neighbors.
Second sentence: Russia does not need to annex Ukraine, but it needs to transform it. In the process of transformation, regions with ripe conditions can first become independent states, and then be incorporated into the new Ukraine;If they do not have the conditions for transformation or are of no use, Russia can take the lead in abandoning them or annexing them to its neighbors.
In philosophical terms, Russia's transformation of Ukraine is a kind of "renunciation".
So we will see that even such important regions as Lugansk and Donetsk will hardly receive the same treatment in Crimea. In other words, it will be difficult for them to become part of the Russian Federation, but they can establish a special close relationship with Russia through the letter of the law, so that "it is better to be more than a relative".
Putin's signing of the decree recognizing the independence of Zabrol and Kherson is also a continuation of the line of thought for dealing with Donbass. It's like the United States and NATO dismembering Serbia: subduing Serbia militarily and referenduming Kosovo to independence, but not annexing Kosovo to Albania.
But we must emphasize that Putin's actions do not in any way affect Russia's support for the four independent republics of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporozhye and Kherson. Russia can still station its troops there in a legal name by signing special bilateral agreements, and through there, take military action against other parts of Ukraine.
Russia's "no annexation, only acknowledgment" approach will be more attractive to other Ukrainian oblasts, who will seek to protect themselves by independent statehood in order to reduce the damage caused by the war, and in order to avoid taking on or sharing the huge debts of the Kyiv regime, and more actively seek to obtain Russian asylum.
If everything is handled well, there will definitely be an avalanche effect. In the future, Russia will likely achieve its goal of weakening and dismembering Ukraine at a smaller cost. And when the time comes, rebuild a new Ukraine on a "plate of loose sand".
In this way, even if the future Ukrainian federation ** is pro-Western, Russia will no longer have to worry and be afraid, because Russia has independent ties and legal agreements with various federal subjects of Ukraine, and the threat from Kyiv will be fully defused and reduced in the process of transmission from top to bottom, the Ukrainian threat will be completely eliminated, and Russia will have its hands free to solve the problems of Eastern Europe and the Far East.