Käthe Henke

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@bluemeercat482796 · Jan 12, 2026 7:15 am

CMV: Ukraine should just give up the rest of Donetsk and end the war with Russia

I'll be honest, this view rests on the assumption that the fate of the remaining 20% of Donetsk oblast under Ukraine's control is the main point of disagreement in the negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. However, based on Trump's statements that the peace deal is "95% done" and that there is one serious point of disagreement together with Zelensky's New Year address saying that a deal is "90% done" and that the main thing stopping it is Putin's insistence to annex all of Donbas, I think this is likely the situation. This is also how the media seems to be presenting it.
Now, here is why I think Ukraine should just give it up and end the war.
1. At this point, the area is more of an economic liability than an asset. Sure, before the war it was an important source of coal and natural gas for Ukraine, but nowadays it is completely bombed/destroyed and will likely take tens (if not hundreds) of billions of dollars in investment to reconstruct it. Russia already occupies most of the coal/natural gas hotspots in Donbass anyways. Any investment made by Ukraine to develop the land again will take decades to pay off, if it will ever pay off.
2. Unlike cities like Kyiv and Lviv, the area