“Land swap is a non-starter for Putin.”
Many rural areas in Donetsk are pro-Ukrainian.
Most pro-Moscow separatists in Donetsk live in cities and towns.
In the USA, cities tend to be Democratic and rural areas Republican.
After the invasion and the forced conscripting of all the men in the LNR/DNR were sent to meat grinder operations and whose bodies were left to rot, and not even counted in the number of dead - there are no pro-Russian sympathizers left.