[Goose]

Excuse the mixed metaphor but it sounds like territorial genocide.  Not just scorched earth, but poisoned earth. 

Just suppose Ukraine ceded that area to Russia, what would Russia do with it?  Doing anything but making it a weapons testing ground would cost big bucks. So it would likely be uninhabitable for decades or more. It would give Russia a killing ground if any force tried to cross it.

There were areas of Germany that were just as "destroyed" as anyplace in Ukraine. There was already large scale industrial pollution in Donbas before this war ever started. Few people moved away for that reason. There are many abandoned mines and immense slag piles in various places. Of course, there are in the US as well.

While there are many areas in Donbas that have had massive damage, there are others that have little or none. There are no places in Ukraine more destroyed than Berlin or Hamburg, or for certain Hiroshima.  People live in all these places today. Japan and Germany weren't exactly flush with cash after the war, but recovery happened. The US helped, but by no means did we "pay for" the entire recovery. There were places behind the iron curtain that were at least as destroyed as Donbas. They too were rebuilt. It was slower than in the west, but it happened. The Soviet Union didn't help, in fact they stole. Donbas won't be a ghost town. These places get rebuilt, sometimes rapidly, sometimes slowly, but it will happen. Will they be "good, prosperous places to live?". Not anytime soon

[Goose]

Excuse the mixed metaphor but it sounds like territorial genocide.  Not just scorched earth, but poisoned earth. 

Just suppose Ukraine ceded that area to Russia, what would Russia do with it?  Doing anything but making it a weapons testing ground would cost big bucks. So it would likely be uninhabitable for decades or more. It would give Russia a killing ground if any force tried to cross it.

There were areas of Germany that were just as "destroyed" as anyplace in Ukraine. There was already large scale industrial pollution in Donbas before this war ever started. Few people moved away for that reason. There are many abandoned mines and immense slag piles in various places. Of course, there are in the US as well.

While there are many areas in Donbas that have had massive damage, there are others that have little or none. There are no places in Ukraine more destroyed than Berlin or Hamburg, or for certain Hiroshima.  People live in all these places today. Japan and Germany weren't exactly flush with cash after the war, but recovery happened. The US helped, but by no means did we "pay for" the entire recovery. There were places behind the iron curtain that were at least as destroyed as Donbas. They too were rebuilt. It was slower than in the west, but it happened. The Soviet Union didn't help, in fact they stole. Donbas won't be a ghost town. These places get rebuilt, sometimes rapidly, sometimes slowly, but it will happen. Will they be "good, prosperous places to live?". Not anytime soon