{"id":1352394,"date":"2026-02-02T12:17:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T10:17:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/russias-new-offensive-is-approaching-why-concessions-on-donbas-will-not-stop-the-war-in-ukraine\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T12:17:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T10:17:31","slug":"russias-new-offensive-is-approaching-why-concessions-on-donbas-will-not-stop-the-war-in-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/russias-new-offensive-is-approaching-why-concessions-on-donbas-will-not-stop-the-war-in-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia’s new offensive is approaching: why concessions on Donbas will not stop the war in Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Donetsk region remains a key and unresolved issue during peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi. Analysts say that handing over control of part of the region will not stop the war, but will only create conditions for a new Russian offensive.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is reported by The New York Times<\/a> .<\/p>\n

Analysts note that Russia insists on the transfer of the entire territory of the Donetsk region, which is currently controlled by Ukraine. According to journalists, the Russian side has repeatedly stated that it will not stop fighting until Kyiv agrees to these conditions.<\/p>\n

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking in the Senate, called the Donetsk issue \u201cthe only point that remains unresolved\u201d in the peace talks, noting that it is \u201ca bridge that the parties have not yet crossed.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, the Kremlin denied this assessment. Foreign policy aide Yuriy Ushakov said that other issues remain, including the security guarantees that Western countries offer to Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Analysts explain that control over the rest of Donetsk region is primarily symbolic for the Kremlin. Donbas has been a central element of Russian state propaganda since 2014, which presents the war as \u201cprotection\u201d of the population of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Russia already fully controls Luhansk region.<\/p>\n

In 2022, the Kremlin announced the annexation of four Ukrainian regions \u2014 Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia regions. Analysts say that Ukraine\u2019s continued control over part of Donetsk undermines Russia\u2019s narrative of \u201ccomplete victory.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can achieve at the negotiating table what we could not achieve by force, the question of who won the war and who dictated the terms of its end will be resolved,\u201d said Alexander Gabuyev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center think tank.<\/p>\n

According to him, handing over Donetsk region through diplomatic channels would allow the Kremlin to avoid interpreting the war as a strategic defeat for Russia. At the same time, any territorial concessions by Ukraine could become a source of internal instability.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople shed blood for this land. Many families lost loved ones during the fighting in Donbas. Now you are surrendering it \u2014 it is a time bomb for Ukrainian unity,\u201d said Oleksandr Gabuyev.<\/p>\n

Journalists also note that the part of Donetsk region that is under Ukrainian control has been one of the most fortified sections of the front since 2014. The loss of these positions, according to analysts, will make Ukraine more vulnerable to a possible new Russian offensive in the event of a breakdown of the peace agreements.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he is ready to compromise to end the war, but has stressed that Ukraine’s territorial integrity cannot be negotiated. He has also stressed that any decisions regarding territories contradict the Constitution of Ukraine without a nationwide referendum.<\/p>\n

By the way, Russia has not abandoned its plans to completely seize Donbas<\/a> and is trying to reach the administrative borders of the region in the near future.<\/p>\n

It was previously reported that the Russian occupation army had advanced in Vovchansk, Kharkiv region, as well as near Dronivka and Pazeno, in the Donetsk region.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As a reminder, as of January 20 , the Russian army occupied the village of Rybne<\/a> in the Zaporizhia region and is advancing in the Donetsk region near Pokrovsk.<\/p>\n

Also follow \u201cPryamim\u201d<\/strong> on Facebook<\/a> , Twitter<\/a> , Telegram<\/a> , and Instagram<\/a> .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Donetsk region remains a key and unresolved issue during peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi. Analysts say that handing over control of part of the region will not stop the war, but will only create conditions for a new Russian offensive. This is reported by The New York Times . Analysts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":1352634,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76871,76872,76874],"class_list":["post-1352394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-2","category-news-feed","category-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1352394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1352394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1352394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1352634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1352394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1352394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}