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BONN, KOMPAS.com – In early April, Russia suddenly withdrew his troops from the area around the capital of Kyiv in the north Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin later announced, the goal war has changed, no longer to seize the capital, but to dominate Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. Why is this area so important?
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Like the Crimean peninsula, the administrative regions of Donetsk and Luhansk are regions where the majority of the population speaks Russian and includes ethnic Russians.
Also in Kharkiv and the Port city of Odessa there is a Russian-speaking population. But only in Crimea ethnic Russians make up the majority of the population.
After the Orange Revolution in 2004 and the Maidan protests of 2013 and 2014, which changed the political fabric in Ukraine, parts of the Region Donbas to fight and inflame separatism.
They were helped by Moscow, which at the same time took advantage of the situation and annexed Crimea.
“These are two of many examples where Russia is acting on the principle that ‘every chance invites a thief’,” said Andreas Heinemann-Gruder, Eastern Europe specialist at the Center for International Conflict Studies in Bonn. DW.
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What is the historical context?
Until the mid-19th century, Donbas region is one of the most important centers of industrialization of the Union Soviet because it is rich in coal reserves.
“During this period, Ukraine was suppressed by the Russian Empire, and Russian was established as the language of education,” explains historian Guido Hausmann of the Leibniz Institute for Eastern and Southeastern European Studies in Regensburg.
“Many Russian farmers are also flocking to the new industrial estate.”
Donbas is not densely populated. After the Russian civil war and a short period of independence in 1918, the territory was incorporated into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Also more and more Russians are coming to the region.
Guido Hausmann explained, there were indeed many people who had ties to the Soviet Union.
“However, people in the Donbas always also speak Ukrainian, and the majority still have strong ties to Ukraine as well,” he said.
Luhansk and Donetsk districts (dark gray), an important industrial area in eastern Ukraine.
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According to Heinemann-Gruder, it is wrong to assume that ethnicity or mother tongue can give clues about the national identity of Ukrainians.
“Russian is even spoken by some battalions of the Ukrainian army fighting against separatist in 2014/15,” he explained.
He added that this probably won’t happen again. “If there is any (factor) that has contributed to forming a strong Ukrainian state, it is Russia’s aggression over the past eight years,” he said.
“Russian bombs unite Ukraine even more.”
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Is eastern Ukraine important economically?
After War World II, for the Soviet Union the industrial area of Siberia became more important than the Donbas.
But for Ukraine, the area remained the most important industrial zone until 2014.
Today, much of the area is being laid with mines – especially in areas controlled by separatist groups. These areas become neglected or very poor.
In recent weeks, surviving industrial facilities and infrastructure have been destroyed by warfare.
Guido Hausman said the region’s economic potential is actually less important for Russia, but very important for Ukraine if it is to be economically independent.
“The goal of the Russian war is to make Ukraine permanently dependent on Russia – politically, culturally and economically.”
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In the Donbas region, war has been raging for eight years.
In 2014, pro-Russian separatists proclaimed the districts of Donetsk and Luhansk independent states.
In 2015, after a period of open fighting between separatists and government forces, a ceasefire was reached with the establishment of a “line of contact” separating the Ukrainian-held part from the separatist-held part. It came to be known as the Minsk II Treaty.
On February 21, 2022, three days before the invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin officially recognized the sovereignty of the Luhansk People’s Republic and the Donetsk People’s Republic.
“Putin meant not only the areas controlled by the separatists, but the entire area of the wider Donetsk and Luhansk districts,” said Andreas Heinemann-Gruder.
That’s why Russia is determined to at least be able to conquer the Donbas now after failing to take Kyiv.
“So it can later be declared as a victory, and maybe it will also be declared as the end of the war,” he concluded.
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