On 7 April 2014, an uprising by pro-Russian forces in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk led to fighting in Donbas. In the heart of this industrial region, home to six million mostly Russian-speaking residents, armed conflict is erupting between Russia and Ukraine, which wants independence. Donbas became a wasteland after a decade of war, and Russification was brutally implemented.
During the last ten years of the war in Donbas, the name of dozens of cities, such as Bakhmut or Avdiivka, has been mentioned in the international press, away from the borders of Ukraine. The building is now in ruins along with Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant and Donetsk International Airport.
From a historical perspective, the Donbas battlefield is a precursor to Russia’s massive invasion of Ukraine.
During the last ten years of the war in Donbas, the name of dozens of cities, such as Bakhmut or Avdiivka, has been mentioned in the international press, away from the borders of Ukraine. The building is now in ruins along with Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant and Donetsk International Airport.
From a historical perspective, the Donbas battlefield is a precursor to Russia’s massive invasion of Ukraine.
The two administrative regions of Ukraine’s Donbas region, Donetsk and Luhansk, were officially united by Russia in September 2022. According to Moscow, they are now part of the Russian Federation. Part of this territory is still under Ukrainian control, and most of the international community considers the annexation illegal.
Ten years after the start of the war, Donbass is still the scene of a bloody conflict that looks like a new version of the Battle of Verdun. According to military analysts, Ukraine fires 60,000 rounds a month along its 1,000-kilometer front line, while the Russian enemy fires 300,000-600,000 rounds.
At the heart of Russian and Soviet mythologies?
Named after the Donets River and its quarries (Donets Basin), this region has been part of Ukraine since its independence in 1991. Donbas, more than the Netherlands, was the first part of the Russian Empire, then the USSR.
Donetsk, the largest city in the region, entered the industrial age thanks to the Welshman John Hughes, who in 1869 established a large metallurgy of coal mines and smelters to transform the local economy. In 1900, 68% of the coal of the Russian Empire was mined in the Donetsk Valley.
According to the imperial census of 1897, one third of the population of Donbass was Russian, who concentrated in the region due to the development of mining and heavy industry. In that number, the government noted that Ukrainians are in half the population, and small towns with Jews, Tatars, Germans and Greeks.
In 1924-1961 the city was called “Stalino”. This is the scene of the work of Alexei Stakhanov, the coal miner whose unprecedented release made him a hero of the Soviet economy and a champion of Stalinist propaganda. In Soviet times, Donbass and its workers were, from Moscow’s point of view, an industrial center and an important part of Russia.
Secession, and self-proclaimed people’s republics?
After the Maidan revolution, the parties that stood for closer relations with the EU won. On 22 February 2014, the Ukrainian parliament voted to impeach pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych, who moved to Donetsk and from there to Russia. Lawmakers in Kiev immediately repealed the law that made Russian one of the country’s official languages.
The next day, anti-Maidan demonstrations began in Russian-speaking cities, especially in Odessa, Donbas and elsewhere in Ukraine. Russian forces occupied strategic positions in Crimea on 27 February, and the annexation of the Crimean peninsula was completed in just three weeks.
Demonstrations continued on the Maidan in Ukraine in March. In Western countries, the protesters are called “pro-Russian separatists”. In Kiev he was known as a terrorist.
Russian media began to call it “Russian Spring” in Ukraine and label the Ukrainians’ new supporters.
Blog By:- ExpertSadar
