PUTIN laid his cards on the table when he declared that he wants the whole of Ukraine’s Donbas region in exchange for peace.

The eastern zone, home to Ukraine’s “fortress belt”, would be a valuable prize for Putin with murderous potential – and one he has sought for over a decade.

Since invading in 2022, Russia has overrun almost the entire Donbas – comprised of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.

But one corner of the Donetsk region remains clinging on.

The frontline there accounts for just a fraction of the whole conflict, but suddenly the last remaining sliver of land has been thrust to the heart of the peace conversation.

At last week’s Alaska summit, Putin declared he would freeze the frontline if Ukraine handed over the last remaining enclave of the Donbas.

But Kyiv has consistently rejected the idea of releasing any territory it currently holds – creating a major sticking point in the negotiations.

But why is Putin so obsessed by this particular patch?

The Donbas is Ukraine’s industrial powerhouse and holds rich reserves of coal and metal underground.

By taking it all Russia would totally suffocate the vital supply of those fossil fuels to Ukraine.

The Donbas is also a crucial strategic location in the conflict.

It is a gateway guarding the central heartland of Ukraine – built around Ukraine “fortress belt”.

This refers to a run of fiercely-defenced towns and cities which Russia has so far failed to undo.

The valley around the Kazenyi Torets river, which runs through the unconquered region, has been fortified into a defensive stronghold.

Over more than a decade, defensive lines have been embedded into the terrain and the slopes measured up for artillery ranges.

Ukraine’s army knows every inch of the land – hence the Russians have been unable to penetrate it.

With the Donbas out of the way, Putin’s ranks would find it much easier to storm through and take large swathes of central Ukraine in any future attacks.

The region also holds a very particular history which means Russia feels a particular claim to it.

It has long been one of the most Russian speaking parts of Ukraine, and political loyalties there have sometimes landed in favour of Russia.

Donetsk was the home and main power base of Viktor Yanukovych – Ukraine’s former president loyal to the Kremlin.

Yanukovych was toppled in 2014 and it was in the aftermath of this when Russia seized Crimea.

Unrest raged for the next eight years, with a separatist movement fuelled by Russian guns.

Even though the people of the Donbas firmly backed Zelensky in 2019 votes, Putin used the protection of its residents as a key justification for his so-called special military operation.

He recognized two breakaway territories — the self-declared “Donetsk People’s Republic” and “Luhansk People’s Republic” — before launching his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

This thin excuse was debunked within hours when the marauding Russians advanced far beyond its boundaries.

While the remaining piece of land demanded by Putin may be small, the future of a vast area would be destabilised if it falls into Russian hands.

A former high-ranking Kremlin official previously warned: “Putin has acted opportunistically; when he launched the invasion he had no fixed territorial limits in mind.

“His appetite grows once he’s tasted success.”