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by int_19h 756 days ago
Donbas - the part of Ukraine that is presently occupied by Russia - is called that because it's an abbreviation of "DONetsk coal BASin", one of the largest in the world.

Coincidentally, there has been a downturn in coal production there in the past two decades (and the associated closure of mines and processing infrastructure and unemployment) because of reduced demand. But if China were suddenly in dire need of coal, it wouldn't be hard for Russia to scale things up again there.