The future of Ukraine’s industrial heartland in the east of the country will almost certainly play a key role in talks between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday.

The Russian leader has demanded that Ukrainian forces withdraw from Donetsk as part of any ceasefire deal, according to Volodymyr Zelensky.

The Ukrainian president has said that Putin wants to take the remaining 30 per cent of the eastern region, which has been the location of some of the fiercest battles in the three-and-a-half-year war.

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But losing Donetsk would give Russia control of almost all of the Donbas, the collective name for Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, which has been long coveted by Putin.

Earlier this week, Zelensky vowed that

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