A message blazoned on the wall of a ruined building in the Donetsk region quickly went viral on Ukrainian social media: “Mr. Trump! I am from Donbas – why should I surrender my home and my region to Russia? Donbas is Ukraine.”
In the photo, on the right, stands Vitaliy Ovcharenko, a sergeant in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, who painted this message on a destroyed building in the Donetsk combat zone.
By 2026, Russia’s offensive has slowed to a crawl, while its losses have mounted. The front in Donbas has barely shifted in six months, and the battles for the mining town of Pokrovsk – once home to 60,000 people, now a wasteland where Ukrainian and Russian forces fight over the remnants of apartment blocks – have dragged on for more than a year.
The pace of Russia’s offensive, in 2026, has slowed to a crawl, while losses have mounted. The front in Donbas has barely moved for half a year, and the battles for the mining town of Pokrovsk, once home to 60,000 people, now a wasteland where Ukrainian and Russian forces fight over the remnants of apartment blocks – have dragged on for more than a year.