{"id":375870,"date":"2026-09-04T16:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T15:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/who-can-afford-to-give-up-the-donbas-dw-news\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T16:01:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T15:01:00","slug":"who-can-afford-to-give-up-the-donbas-dw-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/who-can-afford-to-give-up-the-donbas-dw-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Who can afford to give up the Donbas? | DW News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.ytimg.com\/vi\/zgHX1NpGfo0\/hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"Who can afford to give up the Donbas? | DW News\"><br \/> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zgHX1NpGfo0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe> <\/p>\n<p>Could the Donbas region be the key to ending the war in Ukraine? The Ukrainian territory, made up of Donetsk and Luhansk, has seen some of the bloodiest fighting of Russia&#8217;s war. But both sides are refusing to walk away because of its critical military value, centuries-long economic history, and political importance. We will take a closer look at Ukraine&#8217;s Fortress Belt and explore the value of high ground in the age of drones. We find out who can afford to give up the Donbas, taking a closer look at the origins of the conflict, Vladimir Putin&#8217;s stake, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy&#8217;s refusal to make territorial concessions. Through a military, economic and political scorecard, we answer the critical question: who needs the Donbas more, and could it unlock a future peace deal?<\/p>\n<p>Chapters:<br \/>\n0:00 Could the Donbas be key to ending the war in Ukraine?<br \/>\n1:38 Donbas&#8217; military value<br \/>\n2:08 2014 origins of the Donbas conflict<br \/>\n2:36 Ukraine&#8217;s Fortress Belt (Why high ground matters)<br \/>\n3:01 The price of the battles of Bakhmut and Pokrovsk<br \/>\n3:47 The military lies told to Putin<br \/>\n4:47 Does Russia need land bridge to secure Crimea?<br \/>\n5:34 Can Ukraine build a new Fortress Belt?<br \/>\n6:38 Military scorecard: Russia vs Ukraine<br \/>\n6:55 Coal, iron, steel: Industrial powerhouse<br \/>\n7:40 Ukraine&#8217;s GDP loss &amp; Russian subsidies<br \/>\n8:36 Cost of demining, repopulation, reconstruction<br \/>\n10:30 Economic score: Asset or liability?<br \/>\n11:11 Political value: From Soviet vision to Putin&#8217;s dream<br \/>\n14:14 Why Kyiv rejects territorial concessions<br \/>\n16:08 Final analysis: Who needs the Donbas more?  <\/p>\n<p>#Ukraine #Russia #Donbas #dwgeopolitics<\/p>\n<p>For more news go to: http:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/<\/p>\n<p>Follow DW on social media:<br \/>\n\u25baInstagram: https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/dwnews<br \/>\n\u25baTikTok: https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@dwnews<br \/>\n\u25baFacebook: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/deutschewellenews\/<br \/>\n\u25baTwitter: https:\/\/twitter.com\/dwnews<\/p>\n<p>F\u00fcr Videos in deutscher Sprache besuchen Sie: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/dwdeutsch<\/p>\n<p>Subscribe: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/deutschewelleenglish?sub_confirmation=1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Could the Donbas region be the key to ending the war in Ukraine? The Ukrainian territory, made up of Donetsk and Luhansk, has seen some of the bloodiest fighting of Russia&#8217;s war. But both sides are refusing to walk away because of its critical military value, centuries-long economic history, and political importance. We will take [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":375871,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[130889],"tags":[],"actors":[],"class_list":["post-375870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dw-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Who can afford to give up the Donbas? | DW News | News ISC Videos<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Watch Who can afford to give up the Donbas? | DW News for free, here on News ISC. Discover more great videos on our website and be part of the community.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/who-can-afford-to-give-up-the-donbas-dw-news\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Who can afford to give up the Donbas? | DW News | News ISC Videos\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Watch Who can afford to give up the Donbas? | DW News for free, here on News ISC. Discover more great videos on our website and be part of the community.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/who-can-afford-to-give-up-the-donbas-dw-news\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News ISC Videos\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-04T15:01:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i3.ytimg.com\/vi\/zgHX1NpGfo0\/hqdefault.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/who-can-afford-to-give-up-the-donbas-dw-news\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/who-can-afford-to-give-up-the-donbas-dw-news\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b607dad6f0ffe6ee238615dd31287061\"},\"headline\":\"Who can afford to give up the Donbas? | DW News\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-04T15:01:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/who-can-afford-to-give-up-the-donbas-dw-news\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":315,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/who-can-afford-to-give-up-the-donbas-dw-news\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/hqdefault-594.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"DW News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/who-can-afford-to-give-up-the-donbas-dw-news\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/who-can-afford-to-give-up-the-donbas-dw-news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Who can afford to give up the Donbas? | DW News | News ISC Videos\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/who-can-afford-to-give-up-the-donbas-dw-news\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/who-can-afford-to-give-up-the-donbas-dw-news\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/hqdefault-594.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-04T15:01:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b607dad6f0ffe6ee238615dd31287061\"},\"description\":\"Watch Who can afford to give up the Donbas? | DW News for free, here on News ISC. 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