the Donbass, a territory at war for eight years

Donbass, a region at war since 2014, whose pro-Russian separatists had already annexed part of the territory. Thibault Franceschet, journalist at franceinfo, takes stock of the state of the forces on the ground. “There is constant fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainians. It has been a territory in constant war for eight years. Just before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Lugansk and Donetsk declared themselves as separatist republics and recognized as such by Moscow. The Russian army is present in the south around Mariupol, in the north around Kharkiv and Izium, as well as in the east of Donbass”he explains.

In this area, the geographical situation is largely to the advantage of the Kremlin. “The objective of the Russians is to advance towards the west to take control of the whole of Donbass, with in particular the city of Kramatorsk, targeted by bombardments in recent hours. They can count on logistical support both from the east of Russia, from the north, but also from the south via the Crimea. This would allow them to seize all of eastern Ukraine. For the Ukrainians, the situation is a little more complicated since Donetsk is 1,200 kilometers from Lviv, near the Polish border, where most of the weapons supplied from Europe arrive, so it takes some time to get them to eastern Ukraine.”emphasizes Thibault Franceschet.