Why Ukraine’s Donbas Region Matters to Putin

The two eastern provinces of Ukraine known collectively as the Donbas have emerged as the main battlefield for Europe’s biggest armed conflict since World War II. The region was already central to Russia’s strategy for asserting influence over its neighbor since 2014, when Moscow fomented an armed insurgency there. In February, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the provinces independent, making the “liberation” of the Donbas a primary justification for his invasion of Ukraine. In late September, he took things further, announcing Russia’s annexation of both provinces, together with two others, despite lacking full control of any of them.

Since at least 2007, Putin has repeatedly lamented Moscow’s diminished role in the world following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, which had included Ukraine. He has since tried to carve out a sphere of influence for Moscow in the former Soviet space, pushing back against efforts by Ukraine and Russia’s other neighbors to join or associate with institutions such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union. He tried to build Russian-led equivalents — the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Eurasian Economic Union — but without Ukraine, a fellow Slavic nation of 44 million people, their potential was limited.