Why are Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine's Donbas region a flash point for Putin?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

The Donbas region in eastern Ukraine has been a flash point in the escalating crisis between Russia and Ukraine, which hinges on land borders and strategic influence.

The region became even more critical Monday as Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the independence of two Moscow-backed breakaway enclaves there that call themselves the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic. The action is a considerable escalation that signals an end to the seven-year peace deal known as the Minsk agreement. It’s also seen as one that could give the Russian leader a pretext to invade Ukraine.



What is happening in Donetsk and Luhansk in the Donbas region?

Since the fallout of Russia’s 2014 invasion and its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, the region has been divided into separate territories under different control: the Kyiv-controlled parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts and the Russian-backed separatist Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics,” known as the DPR and LPR.

The Donetsk and Luhansk enclaves have been largely cut off from Ukraine following the outbreak of fighting in 2014 and on Monday were recognized by Putin as independent republics. Their precise population is hard to determine, but some estimate they are home to around 2.3 million and 1.5 million people, respectively — many of whom are among the region’s large Russian and Russian-speaking populations.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/why-are-donetsk-and-luhansk-in-ukraines-donbas-region-a-flash-point-for-putin/ar-AAU8mqp

[BeckyDem]

1. What Putin has done is fucking crazy.

UPDATED: Russia recognizes independence of Donetsk and Luhansk ‘people’s republics’

1:13 pm, February 21, 2022
Source: Interfax

Update: Following a lengthy video address delivered on Monday evening, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree recognizing the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has informed French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that he intends to sign a decree recognizing the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” immediately.

This was reported in a statement from the Kremlin’s press service on the evening of Monday, February 21. Macron and Scholz “expressed disappointment with this development. At the same time, they expressed readiness to continue contacts,” the statement said, as quoted by Interfax.
https://meduza.io/en/news/2022/02/21/russia-to-recognize-independence-of-donetsk-and-luhansk-people-s-republics