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

Feb 16
L'Ethiopie 🇪🇹 se rapproche de plus en plus de la guerre civile généralisée

La mobilisation massive de l'armée éthiopienne dans le nord, son retrait de larges zones de l'Amhara⚫️, vers le Tigré 🟡 et les tensions frontalières font craindre un conflit majeur.

🧵THREAD🧵1/24⬇️ Image
L'Ethiopie, 2ème pays le plus peuplé d'Afrique est très régulièrement surnommée la "Yougoslavie d'Afrique", car elle est en réalité une fédération ethnique.

La lutte de pouvoir qui opposent ces ethnies provoque des conflits meurtriers. Image
Ces dernières semaines et en particulier ces derniers jours, l'armée éthiopienne (ENDF) a déplacé des dizaines de milliers d'hommes vers le nord du pays.

La région visée, le Tigré était déjà au cœur d'un conflit meurtrier entre 2020 et 2022 qui avait fait 600 000 morts.
Read 24 tweets
Feb 15
Each day that passes gives Ukraine 🇺🇦 more time to prepare new fortifications that will ultimately slow down russian 🇷🇺 offensives.

The recent russian setbacks allowed Ukraine to largely reinforce its fortification strategy.

🧵THREAD🧵1/16 ⬇️ Image
Ukrainian fortifications are improving. The main defensive lines (yellow) are meant to protect Ukraine's rear.

Between these main lines, we can find multiple smaller ditches lines are barbed wire lines. This strategy is cutting the frontline : Image
We now have multiple squares and rectangles between main and secondary lines.

The frontline is literraly cut in pieces, the black ones are the finished/expected ones and the grey the larger ones, behind, that will be later cut in between. Image
Read 16 tweets
Feb 14
Contre-attaque victorieuse pour l'Ukraine 🇺🇦

Après plusieurs semaines de contre-attaques, l'armée ukrainienne a repris le contrôle de larges territoires disputés dont ~12 villages dans l'est de l'oblast de Zaporizhia.

L'armée russe 🇷🇺 a été repoussée.

🧵THREAD🧵1/18 ⬇️Image
Profitant de la suspension de Starling à l'armée russe (qui permettait de faire voler les drones russes et de communiquer) et de Telegram, l'armée ukrainienne a lancé une série de contre-attaques locales dans le secteur de Ternuvate et Pokrovsk'e, à l'est de Zaporizhia. Image
Les ukrainiens ont utilisé d'importants moyens mécanisés, une première depuis plusieurs mois, profitant notamment des mauvaises conditions météorologiques et de la suspension de Starlink qui empêchent les drones de voler.

Ces assauts ont eu lieu à l'ouest du côté de Ternuvate. Image
Read 21 tweets
Feb 12
I now managed to map 24 000 russian 🇷🇺 and ukrainian 🇺🇦 artillery strikes from the Dnipro to the russian border.

With this map, I'll show you exactly where Russia is putting its biggest offensive efforts and where Ukraine is counter-attacking.

🧵THREAD🧵1/20⬇️Image
With 12k artillery (and airstrikes) found last week, I now added 12k more, including 8k more in the same area as last week (Dnipro to Kostiantynivka).

This work is entirely volunteer and free, I mapped those 24 000 dots by myself.

You can support here : buymeacoffee.com/clement.molinImage
Most of the artillery strikes impacts are concentrated in 4 main areas :

-Hulialpole/Pokrovsk'e : 8 000 !
-Pokrovsk/Dobropilla : 7 000 !
-Siversk : 1 200
-Kupiansk : 1 200 Image
Read 20 tweets
Feb 10
Did Ukraine 🇺🇦 launch a counter-offensive in Zaporizhzhia oblast ?

Multiple accounts reported about this, but it is not really the truth.

Most of ukrainian progress happened in the grey zone, taking back villages which Russia 🇷🇺 was not controling.

🧵THREAD🧵1/12 ⬇️Image
The main question is where is the frontline. I already talked about it twice recently, especially with this analysis of shell impacts.

Take a close look on the Ternuvate direction, you can see barely no artillery/air strikes

Image
On these maps from @M0nstas, you can see the big difference on the definition of frontline from a pro-russian source and a pro-ukrainian source. Image
Image
Read 12 tweets
Feb 8
Le divorce entre l'Arabie Saoudite 🇸🇦 et les Emirats-Arabes-Unis 🇦🇪

Depuis plusieurs mois, les deux riches royaumes sont en pleine confrontation, voici un Etat des lieux :

Cliquez sur la carte et zoomez, analyse carte par carte dans les tweet suivants ⬇️

🧵THREAD🧵1/10 ⬇️Image
Commençons d'abord par la carte sans la légende, pour une vision globale d'un coup d'oeil.

Le sujet ici est l'éclatement au grand jour de la rivalité KSA-UAE au Moyen-Orient et en Afrique. L'objectif est de montrer l'ampleur de l'influence émiratie et ke retour saoudien. Image
Prendre connaissance de la légende est également important pour pouvoir comprendre la carte.

A la fin, j'ai ajouté un petit texte comprenant les sources et une explication de la méthodologie Image
Read 10 tweets

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