#donbas

#donbas

Verdun in the Donbas. The future of Ukraine and Russia, of European security, and of US-Russian relations now all hang on a few small half-ruined towns in the northwestern part of Donetsk province. Indeed, given the continued risk of a radical escalation leading to actual conflict between NATO and Russia, the stakes may be higher even than that.

Citing European officials briefed on the exchange, the report said Trump adopted Russian President Vladimir Putin's talking points verbatim, warning the Ukrainian leader that if [Putin] wants it, he will destroy you. According to the newspaper, Trump threw aside Ukrainian battlefield maps and demanded that Zelensky accept Moscow's terms, including ceding the Donbas region in exchange for partial Russian concessions in southern Ukraine.

"We're sitting on our suitcases," a woman named Natalia said in Sviatohorivka, a village on the outskirts of the town of Dobropillia, in eastern Ukraine. Russia's army has advanced to within almost 10 kilometers (6 miles) of her home. Ukrainian soldiers have managed to retake some places from Russia, but the villages all around are still under constant bombardment. The only reason Natalia hasn't left Sviatohorivka yet is that her elderly parents refuse to evacuate.