Currently, the Russian Federation occupies almost the entire Luhansk region and more than half of Donetsk. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasizes:
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“we will not make the mistakes of the past again, when we lost Crimea and part of Donbas.”
Strategic and Defensive Importance of Donetsk
Experts have analyzed the potential consequences for Ukraine in the event of a hypothetical loss of these two key regions. Currently, about 270,000 residents live in the part of Donetsk region controlled by Ukraine, while 837 settlements are under occupation (of which 447 have been occupied since 2014). It is important to emphasize that the region’s terrain consists of highlands on flat land, providing strategic advantages for defense. Experts from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) warn that if Ukraine agrees to withdraw from Donetsk, the country may lose a strategic defensive line known as the “belt of fortresses,” which has held back Russian military attacks for 11 years.
Economic and Resource Potential of the Region
Donetsk is rich in rare minerals, including deposits of critical raw materials. Among them are lithium ores, tantalum, niobium, beryllium, quartz, feldspar, muscovite, as well as known deposits of tantalum and niobium ores. Preliminary estimates suggest that the total value of minerals within Donetsk region amounts to approximately 3.8 trillion US dollars.
The region is also home to several industrial giants. Among them is the Pokrovsk Mine Management, the largest coking coal mining enterprise in Eastern Europe, which is critically important for the metallurgy industry, as well as the Novokramatorsk Machine-Building Plant in Kramatorsk, which is the largest individual heavy engineering enterprise in Europe.
In the Luhansk region, over 95% of the territory is under the control of the Russian Federation. The mineral reserves in this region are estimated at approximately 3.2 trillion US dollars.