Clément Molin Profile picture
Aug 18, 2025 18 tweets 7 min read Read on X
This is why giving away Donbass cannot be an option for Ukraine 🇺🇦

Donald Trump 🇺🇸 will ask Zelensky to give away Donbass in exchange for a ceasefire with Russia 🇷🇺.

It would mean giving 9 cities and the main fortifications to Russia without a fight.

🧵THREAD🧵1/18⬇️Image
Giving away Donbass may seem to be the solution to calm Putin and reach a ceasefire, or even the peace between Ukraine and Russia.

However this cannot be accepted by any government of Ukraine for few simple reasons. Image
Here, we are mainly talking about the non-occupied part of Donetsk oblast, since the northern part of Luhansk oblast is mainly rural and has been occupied without big fights in spring 2022.

This is what Russia took in 30 month (after the last ukrainian counter-offensive). Image
As @M0nstas states, this is 5100 km² in 30 months, it means there is still 6500km2 to be taken.

Also in the 5100km2, we count those cities :

-Bakhmut (biggest russian gain in 3 years) 80k pop
-Avdiivka 35k pop
-Torestk 35k pop
-Selydove 24k pop
-Kourakhove 20k pop
- - than 15k Image
So in 3 years of fight, with the main battles being waged in Donetsk oblast, Russia only took one "big" city (80k inhabitants) and smaller towns, all located in the periphery of Donetsk.

They still have to fight for the big cities of ukrainian controled Donbass.
In the 6500km2 to be taken we count :

-Kramatorsk 160k pop
-Sloviansk 120k pop
-Kostiantynivka 75k pop
-Pokrovsk 65k pop
-Droujkivka 60k pop
-Myrnohrad 50k pop
-Dobropilla 30k pop
-Lyman 22k pop
-Siversk 12k pop

In the lone Sloviansk-Kostiantynivka valley, 415k pop... Image
Who would be crazy enough to give away without a fight a total worth of more than 600k pop cities, while Russia only took ~250k pop cities in 3 years of war ?

This, without forgetting the area has industrial and mining potential, even if partly destroyed by 11 years of war. Image
With that stated, there is also the price for Russia. Russia is pushing constanlty in the region. Mainly with infantry, since Ukraine built large anti-vehicle oblastacles and is massively using drones.

This has an enormous human price for Russia. Image
Image
Image
That is the reason why Putin is not willing to fight for Pokrovsk, for Kramatorsk or Sloviansk.

He would lose too much men, the operation will take far more time and his economy will continue to suffer.

He is seeking an easy victory with D. Trump. Image
Also, Ukraine built massive fortifications in Donetsk oblast. This region is easily defendable. There are massive cities, industrial complexes, mines and undergrounds.

Everytime there is a field or a treeline, ukrainian fortifications are standing. Image
In this particular region, a big part of Ukraine's "New Donbass Line" is standing.

It goes from the southern part of the non-occupied part of the oblast to Izium, Kharkiv and now even Sumy ! Image
Here is a map of what would happen with this region in the hands of Russia.

No more big fortifications, an open terrain for further offensive actions in central Ukraine, to push to Dnipro, Poltava, Zaporizhia or Kharkiv oblasts. Image
If the region is handed over to Putin without a fight, it would place russian forces 10km to Izium, 26km to Lozova and 55km to Pavlohrad.

Those are the only cities west of Donbass, before Dnipro (120km) and Poltava (175km). Image
Ukrainian soldiers are not willing to give away Donbass, their region, the region they have been fighting for during 11 years, the one where they lost comrades.

Putin will not give anything in return, no Kherson, no Zaporizhia, no Kharkiv. So they have no interest in it.
But if Ukraine is not willing to leave Donbass to Russia without fighting, what will happen ?

Peace will probably not be found, Russia will continue to push and slowly taking the region, or maybe they will be forced to stop.
Russia's economy has been largely left untouched.

If tomorrow, ukrainian drones and missiles are destroying russian economy (factories, mines, oil and gas facilities, ports...), Putin may be forced to stop. Image
With Trump and the USA disengaging, it is now the role of Europe to continue to support Ukraine, as long as it is willing to fight.

France, Germany, the UK, Poland, Italy, the Baltics and Nordics countries must also become the real rear base of Ukraine. Image
Thank you for reading this thread.

Do not hesistate to share, like and follow my account for more in depth analysis.

I've also updated my biography with a longer version in french, you can translate it easily to know more about me.

x.com/clement_molin/…

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More from @clement_molin

May 29
Since the year started, Ukraine 🇺🇦 launched more than 1 000 mid-range drone strikes (only geolocated ones).

The intensification of strikes against russian 🇷🇺 logistics (150 vehicles, 30 trains, 400 warehouses) is a real game-changer in the war.

🧵THREAD🧵1/24 ⬇️Image
The ukrainian mid-range drone strike is quite recent. It started at the end of last year and quickly intensified in 2026.

Ukraine is using :
🔹Big fixed wings drones : FP-1/2
🔹Small fixed wings drones : Hornet/Bulava/RAM X...
🔹Short/Long range FPV.

Here 2 Hornet on a truck :
In total, I gathered more than 1 000 geolocations since january 2026 (sources provided at the end of the thread).

35% of the strikes hit depots and warehouses (we don't know what is inside most of the time). 20% hit vehicles and 7% hit air-defense. Image
Read 24 tweets
May 26
This morning, a continuous fid a videos from key roads in russian 🇷🇺 occupied territories allowed a large number of new geolocations.

I have now mapped 125 trucks hit on key roads, mostly in may, with more than 80 destroyed.

🧵THREAD🧵1/8 ⬇️ Image
I geolocated two additionnal burned trucks north of Berdiansk :

46.866328, 36.760171

(red part is visible on more recent satellite images)

Image
Image
This video from this morning on the Mariupol-Melitopol road shows 4 vehicles on fire in the middle of the road after a strike.

Geoloc :
Read 8 tweets
May 25
Across the weekend, Ukraine 🇺🇦 continued to harass Russian 🇷🇺 logistics routes along the Azov Sea and in Donetsk

Ukrainian strikes are beginning to pose a problem for Moscow, whose advance on the front has slowed this year.

🧵THREAD🧵1/15 ⬇️ Image
This morning, @azov_media published a second video of their strikes around Mariupol, this time hitting around 20 military and fuel trucks between Mariupol and the russian border.

On this important road, I have now mapped more than 23 hits (some trucks are confirmed as destroyed by ground videos showing destroyed vehicles) with Hornet drones on russian logistics.

Geolocations sources are here :
🔹x.com/moklasen/statu…
🔹x.com/99Dominik_/sta…
🔹My own geos : x.com/clement_molin/…
🔹+ some more guesses I added on the map based on Azov map shared at the beginning of the video.
Read 15 tweets
May 23
New Map Update 🇺🇦/🇷🇺 💥

I updated the map of ukrainian middle strikes against trucks with some new geolocations and informations published today.

I have now ~15 confirmed hits on the Rostov-Crimea road and 30 confirmed hits on the Mariupol-Donetsk road + Donetsk ring. ⬇️ Image
For now, we have mainly videos from these two roads. I've tryed to geolocate some videos from supply roads leading to Donetsk, but it's much more difficult, especially due to the quality of the images.

This video is useful, because they put the area hit:

Yesterday's geolocations come from here : multiple geolocators + my own geolocations :

Read 5 tweets
May 23
In the Sloviansk direction, Russia 🇷🇺 launched 800 airstrikes this month in two directions, preparing the terrain for a larger offensive.

At the same time, Ukraine's third Azov Corps launched the first counter-attacks to cut the Lyman salient.

🧵THREAD🧵1/16 ⬇️Image
Few days ago, I posted an update on the Oskil front situation, depicting the most important assault roads used by russian troops.

On this update, you could see two ukrainian drone strikes located by @giK1893 in Pryshyb and Tetianivka, behind the Donets river. Image
This river is very important, it was the main ukrainian defensive line in the region in 2022, it's covered by massive forests and directly protecting cities like Izium or Sloviansk.

For 3 years, the russians are trying to reach it, behind the town of Lyman. Image
Read 16 tweets
May 22
Situation préoccupante à l'ouest d'Houlialpole dans le sud de l'Ukraine, où la Russie a lancé plus de 1 000 frappes aériennes ces 20 derniers jours.

La précision des frappes, environ 80%, et leur localisation montrent que l'armée russe met d'importants moyens dans la région. ⬇️ Image
A titre de comparaison, voici les frappes aériennes durant le mois d'avril dans la zone : Image
Et celles en février/mars :

On remarque bien le déplacement vers l'ouest. Image
Read 5 tweets

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