Israeli expert: Ukraine must never give up the "fortress belt" of Donbas

From the Dialog, Nov 23, 2025:

"Tamar explained what Ukraine should never give up to Russia under any circumstances: "This is what you must stand for" 

Israeli historian Grigory Tamar called on Ukraine not to agree to give up territories Russia has not yet captured

Russians have been fighting for the Donetsk region for eleven years, but have been unable to capture it entirely. They will likely fail to do so unless Ukraine voluntarily withdraws from its positions as part of the peace agreement, stated Grigoriy Tamar. The fortifications cannot be abandoned, as they truly reliably protect the country from territorial seizure by the occupiers.  

Grigoriy Tamar voiced his warning in an interview with Alexey Gomon on YouTube.  

The military historian highlighted the key point in the peace plan that Ukraine should not agree to: "NATO membership is nonsense, a chimera. It was a mistake for Ukraine to even talk about it from the start, and even more so to hope for it now—an even greater mistake. But the loss of fortifications, which the Russian Federation has been unable to take for ten years—that's serious. This is something you must fight for to the death. This cannot be given up under any circumstances. It's like a hedgehog peeling off its skin, spines and all. Since Russia has been trying to take this fortified area for ten years and has been unable to do so for ten years, you must not give it up." 

Tamar also voiced an interesting idea in the context of the Ukrainian army reduction plan: "600,000 is enough. Isn't 600,000 enough for you? There's a wonderful sports club called Dynamo Kyiv. Ukrainians are a very athletic nation. You could train half a million young people within this club who would go and play sports, and sports come in many forms. There's hand-to-hand combat, there's shooting, there's grenade throwing." 

"Once, when the British banned Israel from having its own armed forces (there was no Israel then, but a British mandate), all young people in Israel played sports from morning till night. Drones are a 'wonderful sport,' and sports, as the British say, are for gentlemen, and all young people in Ukraine will be gentlemen, and everyone will play sports. And half a million such athletes, as experience with territorial defense shows, are a wonderful boost to the 600,000-strong regular army," the Israeli expert concluded."