Ukraine to hand over Donetsk and Lugansk to Russia - Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin allegedly agreed to this at their meeting in Alaska. The Russian president expects the Ukrainian army to completely withdraw from the region. In return, Putin would cease hostilities along the current front line. What is the background to the dispute over Donbas?
Background
In recent years, Putin has repeatedly emphasized the importance of Donetsk and Lugansk, which are located in the Ukrainian Donbas region. He believes that the region is historically linked to Russia and is part of the legacy of the Soviet Union. However, international law is categorical - Donbass is part of Ukraine. This fact was not questioned even during Soviet times. While the Crimean peninsula was transferred from Russia to Ukraine only in 1954 by the then head of state of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev - a fact that is still the subject of controversial discussions in Russia - the Donetsk and Luhansk regions have been a continuous part of Ukraine since the founding of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1919.
However, Donbass has long had strong ties to Russia. Already in the 19th century, and later during Soviet times, it was an industrial center rich in natural resources. With the development of the coal, steel and chemical sectors in the 20th century, people from all over the Soviet Union and especially from Russia moved here in search of work. Therefore, as of 2014, the majority of the population was Russian-speaking.
While many people in the more western parts of Ukraine want closer ties with the European Union than with the Kremlin, this part of eastern Ukraine has traditionally maintained close ties with Moscow. Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who was supported by the Kremlin, was born in Donetsk, and the region was home to most of his then-electorate.
When he was ousted from power in 2014 and fled to Russia, Donbass became a bone of contention between Moscow and Kiev. Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula, and clashes erupted in eastern Ukraine. Armed groups, backed by Russian weapons and paramilitaries, declared the creation of self-proclaimed "people's republics" in Donetsk and Luhansk.
Support for Zelensky after the separatist war
The Kremlin had hoped to gain broad support from Russian-speaking Ukrainians for its military actions in these breakaway regions, but it turned out to be wrong. The separatist war in eastern Ukraine fueled Ukrainian resentment against the Kremlin. Volodymyr Zelensky, who grew up speaking Russian, won the 2019 presidential election, including in the predominantly Russian-speaking regions of eastern Ukraine. His approach to ending the conflict there has been widely praised.
Donbas was a major issue for Putin when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In a televised speech, he justified the so-called "special military operation" by saying that the self-proclaimed people's republics had asked Russia for help. He even claimed that Russian-speaking residents in eastern Ukraine were being subjected to “genocide". A claim that is not true.
Today, the entire Luhansk region and about 70% of Donetsk are under Kremlin control. This means that about 88% of Donbass is occupied by Russia. It is estimated that over 4 million people live in the two regions, which boast not only rich deposits of coal and iron ore, but also lithium, cobalt, titanium and other rare earth metals.
Donbas is of key importance to both Russia and Ukraine
The two regions are vital to the Kremlin and to maintaining the land connection with the Crimean peninsula, which can only be reached from Russian territory via the Kerch Bridge.
If the Kremlin were given control of Donbass and the front line in the Zaporizhia and Kherson regions were frozen, this would effectively mean that Russia would continue to occupy these areas, and Crimea would also become accessible by land. Ukraine would lose access to the Sea of Azov.
For Ukraine, the importance of Donbass goes beyond economic aspects. The government has created a "fortified defensive belt" in the areas it still holds along the front. This is the army's most important defensive line, which has so far thwarted Russia's penetration into central Ukraine. The defensive belt includes several key cities and fortified positions, including Kramatorsk, Slavyansk and Kostantinovka, which Ukraine has stubbornly defended despite heavy losses. Behind this belt lie the open plains of central Ukraine, which would otherwise be extremely vulnerable to a Russian offensive.
Giving up territory?
Therefore, Zelensky will do everything possible not to give up the parts of Donbas that are still under Kiev's control unless he receives large-scale and reliable security guarantees in return. This will be a difficult task in any case. The constitution does not allow the president to give up territories, and such a step would be extremely unpopular in Ukraine itself. According to a survey by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology, about 75% of Ukrainians are against making territorial concessions to Russia.
Author: Thomas Lachan