Russia has done WAY more to hurt that area than to improve the situation. It was Russian propaganda and fear mongering about Ukrainian government being russian-hating Nazis (when in reality Nazis got less than 2% of the vote) that riled up the separatists in the first place. If it wasn't for Russia, this war would never have happened in the first place. And now that Russia has started a war, and caused the deaths of hundreds of people and destruction of hundreds of homes, they are doing a little bit to fix the problem that they caused in the first place. Except that they are still spreading propaganda and fear mongering, still stoking the war enthusiasm, and still giving weapons to rebels who are "taking over" towns instead of "liberating" and recruiting them.