Why Putin has his heart set on taking Ukraine's Donbas

The future of Ukraine's industrial heartland in the east of the country will almost certainly play a key role in talks between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Alaska today.

- BRYONY GOOCH

The Russian leader has demanded that Ukrainian forces withdraw from Donetsk as part of any ceasefire deal, according to Volodymyr Zelensky. The Ukrainian president has said that Putin wants to take the remaining 30 per cent of the eastern region, which has been the location of some of the fiercest battles in the three-and-a-half-year war.

But capturing Donetsk would give Russia control of almost all of the Donbas, the collective name for Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, which has long been coveted by Putin.

Earlier this week, Zelensky vowed that Ukraine would “never leave” the Donbas and warned that Putin could use it as a springboard for a future invasion. As Kyiv fights to keep the Donbas from Trump’s so-called “land swap” deal, here’s all you need to know about the region.

Where is the Donbas?

Situated along Ukraine’s eastern border, the Donbas takes its portmanteau name from “Donets Basin”, a further abbreviation of “Donets Coal Basin”, in reference to the coal basin along the Donets Ridge and River.

The Donbas stretches across the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, two large regions of Ukraine that have been on the front line of the war that followed Russia’s invasion.

How long has it been occupied for?