KYIV: The Donbas, a large area of eastern Ukraine bordering Russia, is at the centre of US-mediated peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv.

Moscow has demanded that Kyiv concede the whole area, which is made up of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, even though Russian forces still do not fully control the territory.

Ukraine has ruled out giving it up, pointing out that Russia has been unable to capture the Donbas completely, despite years of trying.

Here’s what one needs to know about the important strategic stronghold:

What is the Donbas?

The Donbas, named after the Donets River and its coal basin, covers an area larger than Switzerland and represents about nine per cent of Ukraine’s whole territory.

The region has been at war since the start of a Moscow-backed separatist insurgency in 2014.

It is hard to assess how many people live there now, but according to the last census from 2001, the population stood at six million in the two regions. The Donbas is a traditionally majority Russian-speaking area, though many Ukrainian speakers live there as well.

According to the US-based Institute for the Study of War, Russia holds 79 per cent of the Donetsk region and almost all of the Lugansk region. Ukraine has said Russia controls 67-69pc of the Donetsk region, which has emerged as the focal point for peace talks.

The fortress belt

The Russian advance is threatening Ukrainian fortifications in the Donetsk region that Kyiv has been consistently building up since 2014.

The ISW said Ukraine has built a “fortress belt” stretching from the towns of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, in the north, down to Kostyantynivka and Druzhkivka, in the south.

“Ukraine has spent the last 11 years pouring time, money, and effort into reinforcing the fortress belt,” ISW said.

It added that “Russian forces currently have no means of rapidly enveloping or penetrating” the chain of fortifications and it would likely take them years to do so.

Since the start of Russia’s invasion in 2022, Moscow has managed to conquer about one-third of the Donetsk region. The Donbas also has a special meaning for President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose grandfather fought in the Soviet army in the area against the Nazis in 1943, as did many other Ukrainians.The Donetsk region has also seen some of the war’s bloodiest battles against Russia, such as in Mariupol, Bakhmut and Avdiivka.

Resources

Historically, the Donbas has been known for coal mining and industry, but another type of resource there is gaining attention.

The region is rich in raw minerals, such as lithium, uranium, titanium and rare earths, but many of them remain untapped in the occupied or embattled territories.

In May, Washington and Kyiv signed a minerals deal that allows the United States to exploit Ukraine’s rare earth and other deposits.

What’s next?

Giving up Donbas could have devastating consequences for Ukraine’s future security.

It “would open the gate to a future deeper invasion of Ukraine”, said Andreas Umland, a Kyiv-based analyst from the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2025