Efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine could hinge on Kyiv handing over a 2,500-square mile piece of territory that is strategically key to the country’s defense and rich with natural resources that promise a postwar windfall.

For the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians living in this area, called the Donetsk, Russian occupation would present an agonizing choice: to leave their only home, or risk life under a regime accused of war crimes and a track record of repression.

“I have a lot of fear of people being permanently stuck behind that new Iron Curtain, I wouldn't trust [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” said Colby Barrett, a former Marine and producer of the film “Faith Under Siege,” which focuses on Russia’s persecution of Christians in occupied territory.

“We know very clearly what life is like in Ukraine, and it's very similar to America. It's a great place — other than the constant drone attacks and missile attacks — it’s a wonderful, very free place to live. The opposite is true for the Russian occupied areas.”

Putin, as part of his demands for ending the war, has reportedly requested Ukraine hand over the 24 percent the Donetsk oblast (administrative region) that Russia doesn’t already control. Russia controls nearly all of the Luhansk oblast, also located in the eastern Donbas region.

President Trump’s Special envoy for peace missions, Steve Witkoff, said Russia has put a peace proposal on the table that involves Donetsk, but said “it may not be something that the Ukrainians can take,” in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday night.

The offer presents a major dilemma for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who would face a political reckoning for handing over territory to Russia and risk the country’s future security by giving up an incredibly strategic military position.

“Putin's bid to force Ukraine to cede areas of Donetsk Oblast that Russia does not occupy is not a compromise in support of a peace, but a ploy to get this crucial territory for essentially nothing,” Grace Mappes, Russia Analyst with the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said in an email to The Hill.

Ukraine’s ‘Fortress Belt’

Ukraine’s fortified........

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