 "A man walks on a muddy road in the Donbas region. The future of Ukraine’s industrial heartland in the east of the country is uncertain, after Vladimir Putin reportedly demanded it be handed to Russia. File image/AFP")
What’s the price of peace? For Russia, it is Ukraine’s industrial region of Donbas. At least that’s what emerged from the ‘historic’ Alaska summit where Vladimir Putin met Donald Trump to discuss the next phase of the war, which began back in February 2022.
Now, all eyes turn to the White House, as Volodymyr Zelenskyy, accompanied by an entourage of European leaders, head to the American capital this evening (August 18) to meet with Trump and deliberate on the Alaska summit and the demands put forth by the Russian strongman to end this war.
The question that many are asking — why does Putin want Donbas so eagerly? And what would handing over this territory mean for Ukraine?
Putin’s price for peace
On August 15, US President Donald Trump met with Vladimir Putin, a first since 2018, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. While there was no substantial outcome from this meet, the two leaders hailed the “big progress” they made with Trump even posting on social media: “Big progress on Russia. Stay tuned!”
It is believed that during the talks, Putin offered to freeze the front lines in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, if Ukrainian troops withdraw from their heavily fortified toehold in the Donbas, an industrial region composed of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. Some senior officials also said that Putin would provide a written promise not to attack again if Kyiv agreed to his demand for Donbas.
Following the meeting between the two strong men, Trump , according to sources, backed Putin’s plan, with one source telling AFP, “Trump is inclined to support it.”
Moreover, the New York Times, citing officials said that Trump told European leaders that he supported the plan and is expected to present this proposal to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his visit to Washington.
All about Donbas
Before we get into the why Putin is eyeing this territory, let’s understand what it is and where is it located. Situated along Ukraine’s eastern border, the Donbas takes its name from “Donets Basin”, a further abbreviation of “Donets Coal Basin”, in reference to the coal basin along the Donets Ridge and River.
Predominantly Russian-speaking, Donbas stretches the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. It holds vast coal reserves, once fuelling much of Ukraine’s energy grid and steel production. This has also earned it the honour of being Ukraine’s industrial powerhouse.
According to the 2025 CIRSD report ‘The Mineral Wars,’ the Donbas and Crimea regions collectively host significant coal deposits, natural gas fields, and critical minerals. It is reported to contain more than 56 per cent of Ukraine’s hard coal reserves, among the largest in the world and valued at approximately $12 trillion.
It is also rich in critical minerals such as lithium, which is important for batteries and green technologies. Also, it contains tantalum, cesium, and strontium, which are essential for the green energy and defence sectors.
Apart from its mineral wealth, the Donbas also has significant water resources, sustaining farming operations across southern Ukraine and supplying water to Crimea too.
Donbas’ significance to Putin
Many say that Donbas is of great importance to Putin, symbolically and strategically. In his initial speech declaring war in 2022, Putin said he wanted to liberate Russian-speaking people in Donbas from a “genocide” perpetrated by Kyiv. In fact, in the early months of the war, Putin even switched tactics, saying that the invasion had one goal — the liberation of Donbas. Additionally, the Donbas is also the native region of Viktor Yanukovych, the corrupt Ukrainian president ousted by pro-western demonstrators during the 2014 Maidan revolution.
Indicating its historical importance, Sergei Markov, a Moscow-based political scientist and former Kremlin adviser told The New York Times, “Donetsk is perceived as way more ‘ours’ than Dnipro, Sumy or Kharkiv.”
Moreover, today, despite the war way into its third year, Kyiv still holds about a third of Donetsk. Luhansk is almost entirely in Russian hands. It has been described as a “fortress belt” by the Institute for the Study of War. It forms the main fortified defensive line across the front line, stretching through Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka, and Kostiantynivka.
As Elina Beketova, a fellow at the Centre for European Policy Analysis, was quoted telling The Independent, “Ukraine is holding a key defensive line across Donetsk.” She added that Russia hasn’t been able to break through since 2014, and has lost many people there. The entire region is heavily mined, and Ukrainian troops have been preparing it for years.
And experts note that if Zelenskyy abandoned his minefields, trenches and dragon’s teeth anti-tank defences in Donetsk, Putin would be able to mount another full-blown invasion with relative ease, potentially even making another push for Kyiv.
Yaroslav Trofimov, the chief foreign affairs correspondent of The Wall Street Journal, even said that surrendering the fortifications of northern Donbas would be suicidal for Ukraine, unless Trump is willing to send US troops to protect Ukraine the way they protect South Korea.
Ukraine’s stance on Donbas
Even before Putin made the demand for Donbas at the Alaska summit, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected calls for the surrender of this territory. The Ukrainian leader has vowed that his people would “never leave” the Donbas, and even warned that Putin’s troops could use it as a springboard for a future invasion.
“We will not leave Donbas. We cannot do this. Everyone forgets the first part — our territories are illegally occupied. Donbas for the Russians is a springboard for a future new offensive,” he said.
But, now as Zelenskyy heads to the White House, he is left with this conundrum: land versus life. Does the Ukrainian leader choose to give up Donbas or does he hold on to it, at the cost of more lives?
Volodmyr Ariev, a Ukrainian MP from the opposition European Solidarity party, even told the BBC, “We don’t have enough forces to continue the war for an unlimited time. But if Zelenskyy were to concede this land it would be not only a breakdown of our constitution, it could have the hallmarks of treason.”
There’s also the issue of how such an agreement, if agreed upon, would take place. For Zelenskyy to hand over the Donbas to Russia, he would require approval of the parliament and a referendum of the people.
Now, we will have to wait until the White House meeting to see what comes out next. Will Trump push Zelenskyy to surrender the Donbas and will the Ukrainian leader give in?
With inputs from agencies