In fact, by recognizing Luhansk and Donetsk as independent countries, they were explicitly saying that Luhansk and Donetsk were not part of Russia.
They passed actual law saying otherwise almost two years ago. You are just making this up.
It’s not the same situation as Taiwan or Palestine, where China and Israel respectively claim that those territories are theirs and include them on official maps.
What, because there's some of Ukraine left afterwards on the condition that it only does what Russia wants it to do?
The initial claim was that it was a land grab, which it absolutely is.
“Territory X belongs to country Y” can depend on who you ask, but “Country Y claims territory X” is a simple fact that is either true or not.
It's only a simple fact if you look at maps and literally nothing else. A vassal state is not really independent, is it?