system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why doesn't/can't Russia annex Eastern-Ukraine the same way they annexed Crimea?
gpt
Politically it's a strategic way of keeping Ukraine out of Nato/EU. They won't bring in a member in the middle of a civil war.

Pragmatically the Donbas is alot larger and has more people than the Crimea. It would put too much pressure on their budget/resources.