Donbas is a term used for the territory of the Ukrainian oblasts of Donetsk and Luhansk. It has turned into an important front in the war’s enduring Ukraine-Russia struggle. This region has historically been considered the most “Russian” of all of Ukraine, with the highest percentage of Russian speakers. It has a tragic and tempestuous past, marked by industrial development and ingrained ethnic war.
Historically, over the course of the Soviet era, Donbas became an industrial juggernaut, known for its deep coal mines and sprawling steel mills. Yet the region’s economic importance is as high as ever. It’s home to some of Ukraine’s most fertile farmland, strategic waterways, and a long coastline along the Sea of Azov. The region’s rich resources coupled with a long-standing, historical cultural connection to Russia have opened the door to outside meddling. As a result, tensions within have been at their highest.
This current chaos in Donbas began in 2014. Little did we know that, simultaneously, Russian President Vladimir Putin was starting a hybrid campaign to destabilize Ukraine that would follow the annexation of Crimea. This action was a catalyst, leading to a flood of pro-Russian militia formations across Donbas. All of these groups were heavily armed, many including tanks and cutting edge weapons. It was these paramilitary militias that quickly took joy in occupying such urban hubs like Luhansk and Donetsk, and tacitly initiating an ongoing years-long military incursion.
For almost eight years — from 2014 until the beginning of this year — Donbas started turning into a front line, with fighting increasing and decreasing like a tide. Some 75,000 soldiers on each side stood in bloody a standoff along a 420-kilometer-long front line. The Ukrainian government orchestrated an adroit defense of a “fortress belt” of industrial cities, railheads, and highways. This bastion of resistance proved a formidable defense to the Russian tanks and troops barreling westward.
Twelve years since the war first started, the devastation on civilians has been severe. More than 1.5 million Ukrainians have left Donbas in search of safety from the violence. In the meantime, more than three million are still living on territory occupied by Russia. These residents are burdened by an incredible amount of trauma. Through the relentless military onslaught, tens of thousands have been forcibly displaced from their homes in Luhansk and Donetsk.
Moscow has long unleashed bloody campaigns to catalyze and solidify its influence over the Donbas region. Over the past decade, it has handed out hundreds of thousands of Russian passports to local residents. Orchestrating the replacement of the bailiffs is a tactical move that fits into the wider objective to move the region into Russia’s orbit. Ukrainian Avakov noted Ukrainian figures that almost 14,000 people have died in the armed conflict. This jaw-dropping number makes clear the human toll of this endless war.
Despite these efforts, this resulted in NO credible evidence of genocide in Donbas ever coming to light. This lack of evidence only further ignites tensions in international negotiations surrounding the conflict. Despite this, over the course of the ongoing war in Ukraine, the Russian government has used allegations of persecution against ethnic Russians in Ukraine to justify their aggression. Putin himself stated that “the most despicable thing is that the Russians in Ukraine are being forced not only to deny their roots, generations of their ancestors but to believe that Russia is their enemy.”
The Russian government has recently accused Ukraine of organizing “bloody provocations” in Donbas. They find that this strategy is designed to win domestic support through foreign allies’ support. Putin remarked that these actions aim to attract “the attention of external patrons and masters by all means.”
In 2022, after holding staged referenda, Russia illegally annexed Luhansk and Donetsk. This illegal annexation deepened the conflict, shocking Ukraine and the rest of the world into firm opposition to Russia’s actions.
