>>20150295Yes, I know it's an "if."
I'd prefer the entire Donets Coal Basin belong to one nation, either Russia or Ukraine. Even before the war, part of the basin lay in Russia, though most was in Ukraine. Now it's about 50:50.
The thing is, if Russia gets it, then Ukraine has literally no energy. Something like 90% of Ukraine's energy comes from coal from the Donets Basin. Ukraine would be up shit creek without those coal beds, whereas Russia would have plenty of resources without them.
Another possibility is Russia just takes all of Ukraine and forces the inhabitants to become Russians. The problem with this is many Ukrainians see themselves as non-Russians and feel quite strongly about this. Many have developed a very independent identity, and this goes back a long way, hence the Azov Battalion in World War 2 siding with the Germans and fighting against the Russia-dominated Soviet Union.
The issue of Ukrainian identity is a complex one. Putin says Ukrainians are just misguided Russians while Ukrainian nationalists say the Kievan Rus is the original Russia and Russians are the misguided Ukrainians -- the copy, not the original.
But that's all politics. Bottom line is the Donets Basin is one of the coolest coal basins on earth in terms of its geological characteristics: huge amounts of high quality coal, a range from subbituminous to bituminous to anthracite, coals suited for both thermal and metallurgical use, very deep deposits and therefore very deep mines, relatively thin coal beds making mining even harder, huge amounts of methane, a mix of very modern and very antiquated mining methods, yet a tradition of intergenerational mining going back to the 19th century like in West Virginia and a whole culture in the area based on coal mining, like in West Virginia -- a blue collar, heavy industry and handyman oriented culture rather like in the heart of Appalachia.
For those reasons, it's probably my favorite coal basin, though there are competitors.
