Strategically valuable region
Masala: Donbass would be “very good starting position” for Kremlin
18.08.2025, 00:10 a.m.
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Before Selenskyj trumps to Washington to Trump, reports arise that the US President could call for a regional leaving officer from the Ukrainian head of state. It is about an important area where Moscow has been biting their teeth for years.
Political scientist Carlo Masala fears devastating consequences for Ukraine if Russia should insist on the assignment of the entire Donbass in the east of the country in the course of peace talks. The area has well-secured strengthening systems, one also speaks of the “Fortress of Donbass“, explained the expert at the Bundeswehr University in Munich in the ZDF “Today Journal”.
“If you get them, so to speak, in the event of another future attack on the ‘rest’ of Ukraine you have a very good starting position.” The Russians could not only move closer to the capital Kiev, it would also be more difficult for the Ukrainians to ward off attacks.
Since the summit between US President Donald Trump and Kreml boss Vladimir Putin on Friday in Alaska, unconfirmed media reports have increased that Trump sees the opportunity for a fast peace agreement when Ukraine Russia leaves the entire Donbass. Includes are also strategically important areas that Russian armed forces could not bring under their control in the battles that lasted several years.
Selenskyj does not want to divide Ukraine
The Ukrainian head of state Wolodymyr Selenskyj has categorically rejected territories, but they should be a sticking point at the meeting with Trump on Monday. Selenskyj is accompanied by European allies to Washington.
With a view to indications that there should be a meeting between the Americans and the Ukrainians on Monday and only later with the Europeans, Masala warned: The US government could put so much pressure on Selenskyj and, if necessary, to get concessions – which will then be sold to Europeans as results.
The Institute for War Studies in Washington (ISW) wrote to Donbass that Ukraine has invested a lot of time, money and effort there in the past eleven years – for example in the strengthening of the so -called fortress belt and the establishment of a significant defense industry and infrastructure. The Russian armed forces are still trying to circle the fortress belt from the southwest. According to the experts, taking Russian troops would take several years.
