Why Russia wants Ukraine's Donetsk region

Here & Now Anytime

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4.1 • 953 Ratings

🗓️ 19 August 2025

⏱️ 24 minutes

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Summary

The Kremlin is demanding that Ukraine give up the entire Donetsk Oblast as part of any ceasefire agreement. Russia analyst Kateryna Stepanenko explains why Donetsk is so important to Ukraine and why Russia wants control of it.

Then, Brennan Center for Justice CEO Michael Waldman talks about President Trump's push to end mail-in voting, baselessly claiming it is "corrupt."

And, Trump kicked off a nationwide race to redraw political maps after he urged Texas Republicans to draw five more GOP-leaning seats ahead of the 2026 midterms. Author David Daley writes that the "true architect" of the gerrymandering fight is Chief Justice John Roberts and the conservative Supreme Court.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for here and now anytime comes from MathWorks, creator of MATLAB and Simulink software for technical computing and model-based design.
0:09.2	MathWorks, accelerating the pace of discovery in engineering and science. Learn more at MathWorks.com.
0:17.5	WBUR Podcasts, Boston.
0:24.5	It's not about territory. It's not about territory swaps.
0:30.6	It's about making Ukraine a puppet state to Russia, which is something that the Kremlin is unwilling to compromise on.
0:38.4	Dynetsk, home to Ukraine's fortress belt, has resisted an invasion of Russian troops since 2014.
0:42.3	That land might now be on the negotiating table.
0:57.2	It's Tuesday, August 19th, and this is here and now anytime from NPR and WBUR.
0:58.2	I'm Chris Bentley.
1:06.4	Today on the show, after days of high-stakes negotiations over the war in Ukraine, it's become clear that President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin strongly agree on one issue.
1:13.1	They both think mail-in voting is bad.
1:15.9	Mail-in ballots are corrupt.
1:17.8	Mail-in ballots, you can never have a real democracy with mail-in ballots.
1:23.2	Why the president is once again spreading false information about voting, undermining confidence
1:29.1	in American elections. Also, there is a real issue with the election system, one hated by voters
1:35.9	across the political spectrum, partisan gerrymandering. At Trump's urging, Republicans are trying to
1:42.6	red reds congressional maps to add safe red seats before the midterms.
1:48.1	And in response, California Democrats are threatening something similar.
1:52.1	Dave Daly calls it an anti-democratic race to the bottom, and it's one with a clear frontrunner.
1:58.5	I don't think the Democrats can really counter what Republicans are doing.
2:03.4	So while they're talking tough right now, the math simply doesn't favor them.
2:09.7	The kinetic state of American elections coming up in a few minutes.
	...

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