United States President Donald Trump is expected to meet on Monday with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss the future of the War against Russia after the Republican meeting with Vladimir Putin on Friday (15) in Alaska. At the center of the conversation should be two strategic territories: the Crimea Peninsula and the Donbass region, areas that Moscow demands as a condition for a peace agreement, but Kiev considers part inalienable to his sovereignty.
Crimea: Strategic Peninsula in the Black Sea
Crimea is a peninsula located in southern Ukraine, with 27,000 km² in length – almost the size of Belgium. Bathed by the Black Sea and connected to the Ukrainian territory only by a narrow strip of land to the north, the region has a strategic importance since antiquity.
During the nineteenth century, Crimea was the scene of the Crime War (1853-1856), when Russians faced British, French and Ottoman, a conflict that showed the geopolitical relevance of the territory.
The capital of Crimea is simeropol, but the military heart of the peninsula is Sebastopol, a port that houses the main naval base of the Russian Fleet of the Black Sea. This access to the Mediterranean explains Moscow’s insistence on maintaining control of the territory.
Under Soviet rule, the peninsula was transferred to Ukraine in 1954 by the decision of the then dictator Nikita Khruschov, who wanted to facilitate the country’s economic recovery. In the 1991 referendum, after collapse of the USSR, most inhabitants voted to remain part of the independent Ukraine.
Prior to the illegal annexation after the 2014 War, when the peninsula was invaded by Russia, Crimea was also known for its tourist and agricultural relevance to Ukraine. With about 2 million inhabitants before the conflicts, the region had a varied ethnic composition: 58% Russians, 24% Ukrainians and 12% Tartar people – native people of the region that was deported mass by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin – according to the latest official census (2001).
Donbass: The Industrial Heart of Ukraine
The Donbass, abbreviation of “Donets River Basin”, is located in eastern Ukraine and includes the provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk. The region covers about 60,000 km² – almost double the crimea – and was always considered the industrial and energy lung of the country.
Dobass concentrates large reserves of mineral coal and has been, since the nineteenth century, the center of Ukraine’s heavy industry, with steel, chemical and metallurgical plants. This wealth attracted workers from various origins, including Russians, which strengthened the use of the Russian language, but did not break the historical ties with Kiev.
Still in the seventeenth century, the territory was inhabited by Ukrainian Cossacos, which formed the basis of the country’s national identity. In 1991, even with a strong presence of Russopos, most of the population voted in the referendum for Ukraine’s independence, consolidating Dobass within the new state.
Today, the region is the scene of the most intense fighting of the war. Russia and its separatist allies are estimated to control 87% of Donbass, but Kiev resists any definitive assignment. “We won’t leave Donbass. We can’t do that,” Zelensky recently said.
Geopolitical weight
According to American media, Crimea and Donbass are targets of Putin not only for historical bonds, but for geographical, military and economic reasons. Crimea assures Russia a deep water port and a springboard to control the black sea and to design power in the Mediterranean.
“Crimea is the key to Russia’s access and operations in the Black Sea. Crimea allows the projection of power over the rest of the Black Sea,” said Maria Snegovaya, a Think Tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) researcher Maria Snegovaya (CSIS)
Donbass, in turn, represents energy, industry and symbolism: without it, Ukraine loses part of its economy.
“Donbass control gives Russia a huge economic and military advantage. It’s not just resources – it’s a line of fortifications that Ukraine has built for years. If it falls, Russia can advance west to the western without impediments,” said Elina Beketova, a researcher at the Think Tank Center for European polycysis (blind)
