Bodie, the pro-russians are not guided by Russia, they are far too incompetent for that.
What is true, is that in the initial stages of this, they were heavily supplied. There were also a lot of actual Russian fighters there - elite fighters - people who knew what they were doing, such as the "Cossacks" who fought Chechen rebels for years and years. Hardened warriors.
Now, here is a thought for you: Notice how quickly we all let Crimea go. See?
This was never about Russia occupying eastern Ukraine, but Crimea. Causing, fueling, supplying rebellion in eastern Ukraine is a diversion. Now, you may want to refuse to accept that diversions exist in reality, many people do
"surely, no nation would do something that complex, that cynical!" - either way, the situation works _perfectly_ as a diversion.
The rebels are basically derping around, they "won ground" by simply TELLING Ukrainian police etc to fuck off, and they did fuck off at the time, cus they thought the rebels had the Russian Army behind them. They didn't.
Ukraine finally cought on, and are now steamrolling the rebels, sending actual proper military, aerial bombardment, artillery shelling, tanks, APCs, special forces, etc etc, the rebels are being pounded to shit.
What's even MORE convenient (for Russia) is that Ukraine will be quite busy with their eastern region for years and years to come - too much blood has been spilled, people hate each others now, there is armed separatism, bad blood, vengeance, etc. To go back to prioritize Crimea will be a huge waste of effort, from now on and decades to come.
The rebels still have Russian ties, and quite possibly light supplies, but it seems like Russia is "phasing out" their direct involvement there. (There are still Russian volunteer fighters, nationalists, etc)