Losing Donbas leaves Kyiv more exposed to Moscow’s economic grip

Ukrainian president Volodimir Zelansky Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected proposals to accept the land, especially the Donbas region with warm nuisance.

Donbas, which includes Donnetsk and Luhansk Oblast, is the industrial heartland of Ukraine where coal mining and steel production is the main driver of economic development. Finally, the control of mines and factories of the region will submit a powerful leverage to Moscow after Moscow’s post -economic existence.

‘Our situation is clear:’ Zelancesi and the European Union rejected Russia Ukrainian land

“Donbas provides both a military advantage and significant economic resources, making it a high-value target for the Kremlin,” explained by Elina Beketo, a partner with a Democratic flexibility program at the European Policy Analysis Center.

“Donbas alone holds huge stores of coal – especially important for anthracite, energy and metallurgy,” said Beketova. “Out of 114 mines in the Donnetsk region, only 15 are functional,” he said, because many people have flooded, destroyed, or have been left out in innovable.

Coal tells only half the story.

Perhaps the crown is jewel salt: Solader salt mine, an estimated 4.5 billion tonnes of rock salt – it creates the largest reserve in Europe. These mines and Europe’s largest salt producer Artamsol plant, in 2022, fell into the Russian forces.

Beketova underlined that, in the long term, the natural gas region could have the most strategically important resources.

“The region includes the Yuzivka gas field in Donnetsk and Kharkiv Oblasts with a possible reserves of up to 4 trillion cubic meters – a direct challenge for Russian energy dominance, and another reason why Moscow wants complete control of the region.”

Russia can achieve fertile, resource-rich region of Ukraine as Trump has proposed the land swap

“Beyond coal, salt and gas, Donbas -occupied areas – as well as neighboring Zaporizhia and Khersan – Gypsum, Chalk, Marble, Granite, Sand and soil are rich in the soil occupied, Donbas occupied,” said.

The Russian army is currently in the region of Ukraine almost one-fifth, mainly in the eastern and southeastern regions, including large swaths of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhajia and Kherson. These regions have been subject to partial or complete Russian control at various points during the war of Kremlin.

For Kiev, Donbas is more than the field contesting elections-it is an economic lifeline, whose coal, salt and gas reserves can already help in the recovery of bankerol in a country with post-war loans.

The most recent joint assessment by the United Nations, World Bank, European Commission and the Government of Ukrainian estimates that Kiev faces $ 524 billion in subsequent reconstruction of KVV in the next decade.

Among the total long -term reconstruction and recovery needs, housing accounts for the largest stake in about 84 billion dollars, followed by $ 78 billion for the transport industry and $ 68 billion for the energy sector.

Zelancesi told reporters at the European Commission on Sunday that Putin has repeatedly tried to seize the entirety of the Donbas region in East Ukraine for a period of 12 years.

Grace Maps, an analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, said that accepting the region would also mean that since 2014, abandoning the “Fort Belt” of Ukraine to the fortified defensive line in Donetsk Oblast since 2014.

Click here to get Fox News app

“After trying to occupy this strategically important terrain for more than a decade and failed, Putin is now demanding that Ukraine acknowledged this important defensive status, which the Russian forces currently have no means of rapidly covered or entry, there is no guarantee in return for anything in return.”

Maps stated that Ukraine underlined its central role in the country’s military flexibility, enough in strengthening its “fort belt” with defensive structures, logistics hubs and defense industrial features.

He said, “Putin’s proposal is not an agreement, but for a long time, there is a trick to avoid a bloody campaign, which would be necessary to seize the fort’s belt and the rest of Donnetsk military,” he said.