What is Ukraine's Donbas region, and why is it so important to Putin in Trump talks?

The Donbas region of eastern Ukraine will be crucial to President Trump's talks with Zelenskyy and European leaders after his summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin. What is the Donbas and where is it?

KRAMATORSK, Ukraine — While Ukraine's leader heads to the White House, civilians in the country’s east are streaming out of front-line towns under mounting threat from Russian forces.

At the main station in the stronghold city of Kramatorsk, sisters Valentina and Nadia, both in their 70s, wait for a train to escape Russian troops approaching their home in a surrounding area. Neither trusts President Donald Trump or Russia's Vladimir Putin to shape Ukraine’s future.

“We do not believe Trump,” Valentina told NBC News last week. “He says one thing and does another.”

Now the home they have had to flee may be at the heart of Trump's push to end the conflict.

For more than a decade, the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine — of which Kramatorsk is one of the largest cities still holding out — has been the focal point of intense battles and diplomatic disputes.