The Donbas (, ; ) or Donbass ( ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region on the Russia–Ukraine border, lying predominantly in Ukraine. At the last census in 2001, the population of the Donbas region of Ukraine was about 58% ethnic Ukrainian and 38% ethnic Russian.
There are several definitions of the region's extent. In modern geopolitics, the Donbas usually refers to Donetsk Oblast and Luhansk Oblast in Ukraine. The Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine defines the "small Donbas" as the northern part of Donetsk and the southern part of Luhansk oblasts in Ukraine, and the attached part of Rostov Oblast in Russia. The historical coal mining region excluded parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, but included areas in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and Southern Russia. The Euroregion of Donbas is composed of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in Ukraine and Rostov Oblast in Russia.
The Donbas formed the historical border between the Zaporozhian Sich and the Don Cossack Host. It has been an important coal mining area since the late 19th century, when it became a heavily industrialised territory.
Geography
right|thumb|250px|Geology of Ukraine
thumb|[[Savur-Mohyla]]
Donbas is located in the southeastern part of Ukraine, between the middle and lower flow of the river Donets in the north and Azov Upland and Lowland in the south. Total area of the region is approximately 23,000 sq km. It approximately corresponds to the territory of Donets Ridge, where coal layers emerge from the earth surface. This central area of Donbas proper is also known as "Old Donbas". To the west, north, east and southeast from the "Old Donbas", coal deposits are located at a depth of 500-600 meters and more; those regions, known as "New Donbas", emerged as coal producing regions only after World War II. In the west, the area of coal production extends up to the city of Samar in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, and is known as Western Donbas. In the north, coal layers extend towards Kharkiv, and in the east towards Volgograd, covering parts of Russia. The total territory of "Old" and "New Donbas" comprises around 50,000 sq km.
The area of Donbas is located on a steppe upland reaching the height of 367 meters above sea level and divided by numerous valleys with depths up to 100 meters. The central part of the area formed during the Carboniferous period, but in peripherial regions Permian, Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous sediments are also present. Due to a larger amount of rainfall as compared to surrounding areas, Donbas represents a forest steppe ecosystem. The landscape of the area has experienced serious changes as a result of human activities: already during ancient times, the steppe was covered with numerous graves (kurgans), and in modern days the region is characterized with numerous factories, coal mines, slag heaps, settlements, high voltage lines, railways, highways and tram lines. Many rivers have dams and canals built on them, and subsidence as a result of mining has led to the emergence of new water bodies. Most of the area outside of cities is cultivated, with most of the original forests being replaced with artificial windbreaks and parks.]]
thumb|A map of the [[Cumania|Cuman–Kipchak confederation in Eurasia, ]]
The Kurgan hypothesis places the Pontic steppes of Ukraine and southern Russia as the linguistic homeland of the Proto-Indo-Europeans. The Yamnaya culture is identified with the late Proto-Indo-Europeans.
thumb|A map of the sparsely populated [[Wild Fields in the 17th century]]
The region has been inhabited for centuries by various nomadic tribes, such as Scythians, Alans, Huns, Bulgars, Pechenegs, Kipchaks, Turco-Mongols, Tatars and Nogais. During the Rus' period, lands along the Donets river in the northern part of modern Donbas fell under the influence of the Principality of Pereyaslav.
The first town in the region was founded in 1676, called Solanoye (now Soledar), which was built for the profitable business of exploiting newly discovered rock-salt reserves. Known for being a Cossack land, the "Wild Fields" (, ), the area that is now called the Donbas was largely under the control of the Ukrainian Cossack Hetmanate and the Turkic Crimean Khanate until the mid-late 18th century, when the Russian Empire conquered the Hetmanate and annexed the Khanate.
In the second half of the 17th century, settlers and fugitives from Hetman's Ukraine and Muscovy settled the lands north of the Donets river. Early settlements established during that period included Tor (modern Sloviansk) and Bakhmut; both served as border fortifications, and their population engaged in salt production. During the mid-18th century, two regiments of Serb colonists were settled along the Donets, establishing the region of Slavo-Serbia. During that period lands of modern-day Donbas were divided between Zaporozhian Sich, Don Host and Sloboda Ukraine. Following the dissolution of the Sich most of the region became part of Yekaterinoslav Governorate, with eastern parts being incorporated by Don Host Oblast. Tsarist Russia named the conquered territories "New Russia" (, ). The new settlers chiefly engaged in animal husbandry, but starting from the 1830s grain cultivation started as well. Starting from the late 18th century, exploitation of coal deposits started, and several early steel mills were established in Luhansk (1795), near Yenakiieve (1859-1864) and in Lysychansk (1866-1870).
thumb|Yuzivka plant in 1872
Donetsk, the most important city in the region today, was founded in 1869 by Welsh businessman John Hughes on the site of the old Zaporozhian Cossack town of Oleksandrivka. Hughes built a steel mill and established several collieries in the region. The city was named after him as Yuzivka () or Yuzovka (). With the development of Yuzovka and similar cities, large numbers of landless peasants from peripheral governorates of the Russian Empire came looking for work.
With the construction of first railways, especially the Catherine Railway, which in 1884 connected the area with Kryvbas iron ore deposits, rapid industrial growth started with participation of foreign capital from France, Belgium, Germany, United Kingdom and other countries. The factory in Yuzivka was followed by steel mills in Sulin (1872), Druzhkivka (1894), Alchevsk (1896), Petrovske (1897), Kramatorsk (1897), Makiivka (1899) and Kadiivka (1899). Between 1880 and 1900 coal production in Donbas increased from 1,4 to 11 million tons, and the number of coal miners working in the area had reached 68,000. By 1900 Donbas overtook the Urals industrial region by production of pig iron. Despite the rapid industrial growth, local industry greatly suffered from the economic crises of 1873-1875, 1881-1882 and 1900-1902. Rapid growth resumed in the years preceding World War I. Ethnic Greeks, Germans, Jews and Tatars also had a significant presence in the Donbas, particularly in the district of Mariupol, where they constituted 36.7% of the population. Despite this, Russians constituted the majority of the industrial workforce. Ukrainians dominated rural areas, but cities were often inhabited solely by Russians who had come seeking work in the region's heavy industries. Most ethnic Russian migrants to the Donbas stemmed from the Central Black Earth Region. As a result, Donbas became the most Russified region of Ukraine. The Ukrainian State, the successor of the Ukrainian People's Republic, was able in May 1918 to bring the region under its control for a short time with the help of its German and Austro-Hungarian allies. During that period, Ukrainian administration also spread its power on Taganrog uezd, which had previously been part of Don Cossack lands. According to a treaty between the Ukrainian State and Don Host, which was signed on 8 August 1918, the border between the two parties was established along the eastern border of Yekaterinoslav Governorate, with some additional areas east of Mariupol being transferred to Ukraine. A joint commission was established with involvement of both sides in order to preserve the region's economic unity. In 1924 administrative borders of Ukrainian SSR were modified, with parts of eastern Donbas, including the cities of Shakhty, Sulin and Taganrog, being transferred to Russian SFSR.
Starting from the late 1920s, rapid industrialization led to the reconsturtion of old and establishment of new enterprises, including some new branches such as machine-building and chemical industry. By 1940, annual coal production had reached 83,7 million tons. Due to repression and collectivization, most of the new workers settling in the Donbas arrived from other regions of Ukraine. As a result of migration, Donbas became the biggest urban agglomeration in Ukraine, with the region's population growing from 2,960,000 to 5,940,000 inhabitants between 1929 and 1939. Nazi Germany's leader Adolf Hitler viewed the resources of the Donbas as critical to Operation Barbarossa. As such, the Donbas suffered under Nazi occupation during 1941 and 1942.
Thousands of industrial labourers were deported to Nazi Germany for use in factories. In what was then called Stalino Oblast, now Donetsk Oblast, 279,000 civilians were killed over the course of the occupation. In Voroshilovgrad Oblast, now Luhansk Oblast, 45,649 were killed.
In 1943 the Operation Little Saturn and Donbas strategic offensive by the Red Army resulted in the return of Donbas to Soviet control. The war had taken its toll, leaving the region both destroyed and depopulated. As a result of wartime destruction, the region's infrastructure was severely damaged. Coal and metal production levels from 1940 were only restored in 1949. As a result of the Russification policy, the Ukrainian population of the Donbass then declined drastically as ethnic Russians settled in the region in large numbers.
Despite the postwar reconstruction, as of 1955 35% of miners in the Donbas continued to work manually, although mechanization gradually increased. Over 70% of workforce in the mines consisted of young people, with levels of employee turnover reaching 40%. As a result of high production costs, 70% of Donbas coal was consumed in Ukraine, with the rest being exported to other parts of the USSR and abroad. In 1957 production of internal combustion locomotives was launched at Luhansk Locomotive Factory. During the same year, Ukraine's most powerful thermal power station started operation. Gradual electrification of railways and connection of the region to natural gas supplies started. In 1954 works on the construction of Siverskyi Donets – Donbas Canal began. By 1956, 90% of the region's population was urbanized. By the time of the Soviet Census of 1989, 45% of the population of the Donbas reported their ethnicity as Russian. In 1990, the Interfront of the Donbass was founded as a movement against Ukrainian independence.
In independent Ukraine (from 1991)
right|thumb|250px|A map showing the present-day definition of the Donbas within [[Ukraine]]
thumb|210px|A monument to [[Don Cossacks in Luhansk. "To the sons of glory and freedom".]]
In the 1991 referendum on Ukrainian independence, 83.9% of voters in Donetsk Oblast and 83.6% in Luhansk Oblast supported independence from the Soviet Union. Turnout was 76.7% in Donetsk Oblast and 80.7% in Luhansk Oblast. In October 1991, a congress of South-Eastern deputies from all levels of government took place in Donetsk, where delegates demanded federalisation. These questions included whether Russian should be declared an official language of Ukraine, whether Russian should be the language of administration in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, whether Ukraine should federalise, and whether Ukraine should have closer ties with the Commonwealth of Independent States. Close to 90% of voters voted in favour of these propositions. None of them were adopted since the vote was nationwide. Ukraine remained a unitary state, Ukrainian was retained as the sole official language, and the Donbas gained no autonomy.
A total of 3,576 delegates from 16 oblasts of Ukraine, the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol took part in the congress, claiming to represent over 35 million citizens. Moscow Mayor Yurii Luzhkov and an advisor from the Russian Embassy were present in the presidium. There were calls for the appointment of Viktor Yanukovych as president of Ukraine or prime minister, for declaring of martial law in Ukraine, dissolution of the Verkhovna Rada, creation of self-defence forces, and for the creation of a federative South-Eastern state with its capital in Kharkiv.
In other parts of Ukraine during the 2000s, the Donbas was often perceived as having a "thug culture", as being a "Soviet cesspool", and as "backward". Writing in the Narodne slovo newspaper in 2005, commentator Viktor Tkachenko said that the Donbas was home to "fifth columns", and that speaking Ukrainian in the region was "not safe for one's health and life". It was also portrayed as being home to pro-Russian separatism. The Donbas is home to a significantly higher number of cities and villages that were named after Communist figures compared to the rest of Ukraine. Despite this portrayal, surveys taken across that decade and during the 1990s showed strong support for remaining within Ukraine and insignificant support for separatism.
Russo-Ukrainian War (2014–present)
War in Donbas
thumb|400px|A map of the region during the frozen conflict phase of the Donbas war, from the conclusion of the [[Battle of Debaltseve in 2015 until the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine]]
From the beginning of March 2014, demonstrations by pro-Russian and anti-government groups took place in the Donbas, as part of the aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity and the Euromaidan movement. These demonstrations, which followed the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, and which were part of a wider group of concurrent pro-Russian protests across southern and eastern Ukraine, escalated in April 2014 into a war between the Russian-backed separatist forces of the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR respectively), and the Ukrainian government.
Amid that conflict, the self-proclaimed republics held referendums on the status of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts on 11 May 2014. In the referendums, viewed as illegal by Ukraine and undemocratic by the international community, about 90% voted for the independence of the DPR and LPR.