Why Putin Wants Control Of Ukraine's Donbas Region
- By RFE/RL
Since Russia's full-scale invasion, Moscow has focused on seizing all of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, which includes the Donetsk and Luhansk territories. In their most recent call, Russian leader Vladimir Putin reportedly told US President Donald Trump that Ukraine must abandon the parts of the Donetsk region that it still controls as a "condition for ending the war." Why does Putin want full control of the territory?