Why does Russia want control of Ukraine’s Donetsk? What makes the region critical for Moscow — EXPLAINED

Russian President Vladimir Putin told Donald Trump on Saturday demanding Ukraine to withdraw from the eastern Donetsk region if the world wants Russia to end this war. This demand was made by the Russian president during their meeting in Alaska on Friday, as per the report by the Financial Times. Putin has hinted that if Ukraine surrenders Donetsk, he would agree to freeze the rest of the frontline, particularly in the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, where Russian forces already control large swathes of territory.

In response, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has said that the real objective of Putin is to take the remaining 30 per cent of the eastern region, an area that has experienced some of the bloodiest battles in the war that has now been dragged on for over three years.

Why does Vladimir Putin want all of Donetsk?

Located along Ukraine’s eastern border, the Donbas, a short name of the “Donets Coal Basin,” which is about the coal basin along the Donets Ridge and River, is the country's industrial hub, which Putin has long viewed as central to his vision of expanding Russia's sphere of influence.

According to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, if Russia captured Donetsk, it would give full control of almost all of the Donbas, the collective name for Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, which has been coveted for decades. Moreover, holding Donetsk would provide Russia with a strategic land corridor linking Crimea to Luhansk and beyond, consolidating its grip over both the eastern front and critical stretches of the Black Sea coastline.

In 2022, a Russian general even outlined a broader ambition of Russia pushing to the west beyond Odesa as it aims to conquer Ukraine's Black Sea coast, according to a report by the BBC.

According to a report in the Independent, the Donbas has been partially captured by Russia since 2014, while the Crimean peninsula was annexed by Putin. After the Russian-backed separatists broke away from the Ukrainian government in order to claim the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk's independent people’s republics, Moscow occupied over a third of the eastern territory of Ukraine.

The Donbas, which is around 88 per cent under Russian control, includes almost all of the Luhansk region and 75 per cent of the Donetsk region, according to Reuters. However, approximately 6,600 sq km is still under Ukraine's control, but Russia's main focus has been on its energy-rich region in Donetsk, such as Pokrovsk.

'Donbas': Predominantly Russian-speaking region

The hyper-industrialised Donbas economy is influenced by metallurgy and coal mining, and it is also one of the largest coal reserves in Ukraine. Ukraine’s coal-mining enterprises experienced a dip of 22.4 per cent in raw coal production after the conflict broke out in 2014, according to the Kyiv Post. This shows the country’s dependency on Donbas as an energy powerhouse.

However, in terms of its economic significance and strategic value, the Institute for the Study of War has described it as a “fortress belt.” In addition, Donetsk also play a significant role in playing a key defensive line across the front line, stretching through Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka, and Kostiantynivka.

This region, largely Russian-speaking, has been at the center of conflict since 2014, when Russia captured Crimea and its proxy forces seized over a third of eastern Ukraine. However, Luhansk and Donetsk might be broadly Russian-speaking regions, but they are no longer pro-Russian. In a May 2022 Ukrainian opinion poll, it was suggested that 82% of Ukrainians in the territory which was occupied by the Russia since the 24 February invasion had a negative attitude toward Moscow.