[Korrespondent] Donbass is the main outpost that holds back the enemy and prevents it from advancing into the central and western regions of Ukraine.
While the Defense Forces have stopped the advance of the Russian army in the Dobropillya direction and the situation in this region is stabilizing, it is the topic of Donbass that will play a key role in the negotiations between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, writes the British publication The Independent.
Journalists warn that the complete loss of Donbass could have "catastrophic consequences" for Kyiv, which are further down in the story.
SIGNIFICANT OCCUPATION
The Russian Federation illegally included Crimea, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions among its subjects. However, these territories are part of Ukraine and are not recognized by the United Nations.
Russia is now believed to have occupied about 88 percent of the Donbas. According to Reuters, this includes almost all of the Luhansk region and 75 percent of the Donetsk region.
Some 6,600 square kilometers are still controlled by Ukraine, but the Kremlin is massing most of its troops along the front in the Donetsk region, advancing toward the last major cities remaining, such as Pokrovsk and Dobropolye.
STRATEGIC REGION IN WAR
Donbas' hyperindustrialized economy is based primarily on coal mining and metallurgy. The region has some of the largest coal reserves in Ukraine, even as coal production elsewhere has declined.
In 2014 alone, Ukrainian coal mining companies in Donbass suffered a 22.4 percent reduction in raw coal production compared to 2013.
But beyond its economic importance, the Donbas has been described by the Institute for the Study of War as a "belt of fortresses" in terms of its strategic importance in the war. The Donetsk region forms the main fortified defensive line along the front, which stretches through Slavyansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkovka and Konstantinovka.
"Ukraine currently holds a key defensive line in the Donetsk region," said CEPA researcher Elina Beketova.
She added that Russia has not been able to break through since 2014 and they have lost a lot of people there because the whole region is heavily mined.
"These are not just trenches, but deep, multi-layered defenses with bunkers, anti-tank ditches, minefields and industrial zones built into the terrain. This terrain includes dominant hills, rivers and urban areas, making it extremely difficult to capture," Beketova said.
She said the loss of this fortified line would have "catastrophic consequences" as it would curb Russia's advance into central and western Ukraine.
"The front would have shifted about 80 km to the west, and Russia would have received open terrain - flat steppe without natural obstacles - which would have given it direct routes to Kharkov, Poltava and the Dnieper," the expert is convinced.
WHAT ZELENSKY SAID ABOUT DONBASS
Zelensky has repeatedly rejected Russia's calls to abandon Donbass.
In response to Putin's ultimatum to withdraw Ukrainian troops from the Donetsk region, he promised that Ukraine would "never leave" the Donbass and warned that Putin's forces could use it as a springboard for a future invasion.
"We will not leave Donbass. We cannot do this. Everyone forgets the first part - our territories are illegally occupied. For the Russians, Donbass is a springboard for a new offensive in the future," he said.