User:Phaisit16207/sandbox/Donetsk Oblast

This page is about the Ukrainian oblast. For the disputed Russian entity, see Donetsk People's Republic.

Donetsk Oblast Донецька область
Oblast
Donetska oblast
Flag Coat of arms
Nickname:  Донеччина (Donechchyna)
Map of Raions of Donetsk Oblast. Clicking on an area to load the raion's article.
Coordinates: 48.14°N 37.74°E / 48.14; 37.74
Country	Ukraine
Established	3 June 1938
Administrative center	Donetsk (de jure, 1938 – present; de facto until 2014) Kramatorsk (de facto; October 2014 – present) Mariupol (de facto; June – October 2014)
Government
• Governor	Pavlo Kyrylenko
• Oblast council	150 seats
Area
• Total	26,517 km2 (10,238 sq mi)
• Rank	Ranked 11th
Population  (1 January 2022)
• Total	4,059,372
• Rank	Ranked 1st
Demographics
• Official language(s)	Ukrainian
• Average salary	UAH 1161 (2006)
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal code	83000–87999
Area code	+380-62
ISO 3166 code	UA-14
Vehicle registration	АН
Raions	8
Cities (total)	52
• Regional cities	28
Urban-type settlements	131
Villages	1124
FIPS 10-4	UP05
Website	dn.gov.ua

Donetsk Oblast (UK: /dɒˈnjɛtsk/ don-YETSK, US: /də-/ də-; Ukrainian: Донецька область, romanized: Donetsʼka oblastʼ, IPA: [doˈnɛtsʲkɐ ˈɔblɐsʲtʲ]), also referred to as Donechchyna (Донеччина, IPA: [doˈnɛtʃːɪnɐ]), is an oblast in eastern Ukraine. It is Ukraine's most populous province, with around 4.1 million residents. Its administrative centre is Donetsk, though due to the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War, the regional administration was moved to Kramatorsk. Historically, the region has been an important part of the Donbas region. From its creation in 1938 until November 1961, it bore the name Stalino Oblast as Donetsk was then named "Stalino", in honour of Joseph Stalin. As part of the de-Stalinization process, it was renamed after the Siversky Donets river, the main artery of Eastern Ukraine. Its population is estimated as 4,100,280 (2021 est.)

The oblast is known for its urban sprawl of Donetsk–Makiivka and Horlivka–Yenakiieve and it is often associated with the coal mining industry.

In 2014, parts of the oblast, including Donetsk, came under the control of Russian-backed separatists who declared the Donetsk People's Republic, leading to a war against government forces; the de facto administrative center was subsequently moved to Mariupol and then Kramatorsk. During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the oblast again became the site of heavy fighting, and Russia later declared the annexation of the entirety of the oblast as well as three other regions, though the annexation remains internationally unrecognized and only about half of the oblast is under Russian military occupation.

History

Before the establishment of the Donetsk Oblast, three districts (okruhas) existed on its territory from 1923 to 1930. The Donets Governorate was terminated in 1925. As part of Soviet Ukraine, the Donetsk Oblast was established on 2 July 1932 out of the Kharkiv Oblast, the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and a number of raions that were under the direct administration of Kharkiv (then-capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic). Artemivsk (today Bakhmut) served as the oblast's administrative center for two weeks until 16 July 1932, when the city of Stalino (today Donetsk) took on the role. Until 1938, the Donetsian Oblast included the territories of the modern Donetsk Oblast and the Luhansk Oblast. In June 1938 it was split into the Stalino Oblast (modern Donetsk Oblast) and the Voroshylovhrad Oblast (modern Luhansk Oblast).

During the Nazi German occupation from fall 1941 to fall 1943, Donetsk Oblast was known as Yuzivka Oblast (after the original name of Donetsk).

As part of de-Stalinization in the Soviet Union, in 1961 Stalino and Stalino Oblast were renamed Donetsk and Donetsk Oblast.

During the dissolution of the Soviet Union, 83.9% of voters in Donetsk Oblast approved Ukraine's declaration of independence in the 1991 referendum.

In the mid-1990s, the region became known for its heightened criminal activity, including the killings of high-profile business people such as Akhat Bragin and Yevhen Shcherban. Donetsk Oblast was also a base for Ukraine's main pro-Russian political faction, Party of Regions, which became part of the Ukrainian government in 2002 and paved a way into Ukrainian politics for the powerful "Donetsk political clan".

In late 2004, the Party of Regions was involved in the creation of a political project, the South-East Ukrainian Autonomous Republic, which was intended to include Donetsk Oblast. Having close ties with the Russian government, the Party of Regions, along with local communists and other pro-Russian activists, instigated the pro-Russian unrest which escalated into the war in Donbas.

Russo-Ukrainian War

War in Donbas

Russian separatists in front of the Donetsk region administrative building on 26 April 2014. The tryzub, which is the national symbol of Ukraine, was removed.

In 3 March 2014, the Pro-Russian separatists seized the government-held building of the Regional State Administration in Donetsk, as well as the paliamentary building and prosecutor's office. Currently, the eastern part of the oblast is occupied by Russia. The separatists declared the Donetsk People's Republic on 7 April 2014, which was unrecognised by any state, and still considered the region is belonged to Ukraine. A referendum for the self-rule of the republic was held on 11 May 2014, which turned out of 90 per cent wanted to be independent from Ukraine. Subsequently followed by the war by the insurgents.

When the Ukrainian armed forces recaptured the city of Mariupol from the insurgents on 13 June 2014, President Petro Poroshenko announced the city became the tempoary administrative centre of the region. As a result of the war, Ukraine lost control over many areas along its border with Russia, inclusive of Donetsk, the region's most populous city and the capital of the oblast. In October 2014, the administrative seat was moved to the city of Kramatorsk, where the Ukrainian forces recaptured in July 2014.

Russian invasion of Ukraine

On 22 February 2022, Russia recognised the Donetsk People's Republic, along with the Luhansk People's Republic as independent states, before the Russian troops entered these two states as the Peacekeeper mission. The full-scale infringement of Ukraine was carried out in the morning of 24 February, three days after the recognation, when Vladimir Putin asserted a "special military operation" to "demilitarise and denazify" Ukraine. Ensuing by missile attacks and heavy fighting. In the southern of the region, Mariupol, the strategic and port city near the Sea of Azov, was put under a three-month-long siege by the Russian Armed Forces, which was confiscated on 20 May. The invasion turned out of 45 per cent of the area still controlled by the government. According to Donetsk Regional Governor, 1,469 civillians were killed and 3,477 civilian were injured.

Map of Russian-occupied territory of Donetsk Oblast as of 27 December 2024.

On 30 September 2022 Russia annexed the Donetsk (DPR), Luhansk (Luhansk People's Republic), Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson Oblasts. The United Nations General Assembly subsequently passed a resolution calling on countries not to recognise what it described as an "attempted illegal annexation," demanded that Russia "immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw" and most nations of the world have not recognized the annexations. As of the end of 2022, the oblast is divided roughly equally between the opposing sides. At the beginning of October 2022, the Ukrainian forces recaptured Lyman as a part of 2022 Kharkiv counter-offensive, an pushed the almost all of Russians from the northern part of the region. From December 2022 to May 2023, the Wagner Group under Yevgeny Prigozhin captured many towns around the city of Bakhmut including Soledar.