On February 21, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Moscow's official recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk as "independent republics" from Ukraine.
What is the story of the two regions located in eastern Ukraine, before Putin, hours before, ordered the Russian Defense Ministry to send peacekeeping forces to them?
Donetsk region
It is a region in the southeast of Ukraine, bordered by Russia to the east and the Sea of Azov to the south, to the north of it are the Lugansk and Kharkiv regions, and to the west of it are the regions of Zuborgia and Dnepropetrovska.
The area of Donetsk is about 26.5 thousand square kilometers, which is equivalent to about 4.4% of the total area of Ukraine, and it is divided into 18 regions, comprising 52 cities and 131 towns.
Its total population is about 7 million, where Ukrainians constitute about 56.8%, and Russians 38.2%, and the rest is distributed among other nationalities, such as Tatars and Armenians.
The main language in the region is Russian, and Ukrainian is spoken in towns and villages far from major cities.
Despite its vast agricultural areas, Donetsk is considered an industrial region, as it is famous for its abundance of coal mines and iron and steel plants in which most of the population works. It has 13 large coal mines, dozens of small mines, 9 coke plants, and 10 plants for the production of bars and other products. Iron industries.
The separatists in the Donetsk region took control of many cities, such as Kslaviansk, Kramatorsk, Zderzhinsk, Konstantinovka and others, but the Ukrainian forces recently forced them to leave them, to pursue them and confront them in other cities.
Donetsk city
: is the main city in the region, and the capital of the "Donetsk People's Republic" declared by the separatists, and today it is their main stronghold, especially after Ukrainian forces forced them to leave several other cities in the region, such as Slaviansk and Kramatorsk.
The city is located in the heart of the Donetsk region. It was established in 1869, and at that time bore the name of its governor "Yuzovka" until 1924, then it was named "Stolino" after the late Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.
And in 1961 it was called Donetsk.
It is considered the fifth largest city in Ukraine, with an area of about 358 square kilometers, and more than 900,000 people live in it.
In addition to its richness in mines and factories, Donetsk is famous for the miners' football team "Shakhtar", and the international stadium named after the team, which hosted a number of matches of the European Nations Cup "Euro 2012", and its name is also associated with billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, who owns most factories and companies In which.
Besides industry and agriculture, the city has an active cultural life, with many theaters, galleries, universities and institutes, so it is a major destination for students from inside and outside Ukraine.
Horlovka
is the second largest separatist stronghold in the region, located to the north of Donetsk.
Founded in 1779, it became a large city in 1932, with a population of about 259,000.
Snezhnoye
is a small town located to the west of Donetsk.
It was founded in 1784, and became a city in 1938. It covers an area of about 87.2 square kilometers, and has a population of about 49,000 people.
The city made headlines when the Ukrainian government accused the separatists of firing a Buk M1 missile from Snezhnoye territory, which brought down a Malaysian Boeing 777, killing all 300 people on board, but the separatists deny these accusations.
Lugansk region
Lugansk region is located in the far east of Ukraine, bordered by Russia to the east, north and south.
Its area is about 26.6 thousand square kilometers, which is equivalent to about 4.4% of the total area of Ukraine. It is divided into 18 administrative regions, comprising 37 cities and 109 towns.
Its total population is about 2.2 million, according to the 2014 census, in which Ukrainians make up 57.9%, and Russians 39%, and the rest is distributed among other nationalities, such as those belonging to Belarus, Tatars, Armenians, Azerbaijanis and Moldavians.
The main language spoken in the region is Russian, and Ukrainian is spoken in towns and villages far from major cities.
The Lugansk region is industrial, with many coal mines and factories, and its economy depends on networks, roads, and transit points for goods to and from Russia, due to the long border strip with it.
The separatists in the Lugansk region took control of several cities and towns, but recently Ukrainian forces confined them to a few cities and towns.
Luhansk is the main city in the region, the capital of the "Luhansk People's Republic" proclaimed by the separatists, and is their main stronghold today.
The city is located in the southeast of Lugansk region, and was founded as a factory in 1795 until 1882, then it grew and turned into the city of "Voroshilovgrad" until 1958, and there were many prisons and prisons in the former Soviet Union.
Lugansk is one of the largest cities in Ukraine, with an area of about 286 square kilometers.
Lugansk has several mines and machinery factories, many universities and institutes in various scientific and literary fields.
Among the most prominent confrontation cities in the Lugansk region, the city of Alchevsk is located to the west of it, on an area of 50 square kilometers, and was founded in 1895.
president escape
February 2014
: After the escape of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to Russia, and the events of Crimea that led to its annexation later in March of the same year, the secession movement began in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in early April 2014.
The movement quickly turned into an armed form, after Kiev woke up from the shock of the government vacuum left by the flight of most officials in the Yanukovych regime.
This was helped by the control of pro-Russian separatists, who are opposed to the new pro-Western authorities of Kiev, over government headquarters and military sites in major cities and elsewhere.
Declaration of separation
May 2014
: Unilateral declaration of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics.
Neither party recognized these two "republics", but they quickly aspired to membership in the Russian Federation, tried to unite them in the name of "New Russia", and sought to acquire other Ukrainian regions in the east of the country.
At the time, Kiev formed what was known as the "anti-terror operation", and after months was able to restore several major cities that had been seized by the separatists (Slaviansk, Kramatorsk, Mariupol), and their expansionist ambitions had practically stopped.
From the beginning, Moscow insisted that what is happening in eastern Ukraine is a "civil war", stressing that it does not support the separatists, and that it is a "mediator" between them and Kiev.
Kiev rejected this matter, but gradually turned to accusing Russia of sending retired armed men, mercenaries, weapons and heavy equipment that were not present in the region, under the cover of many convoys of "humanitarian aid" across a border distance outside - until today - of Ukraine's control, which Kiev estimates by about 400 km. Out of about 2,295 km is the entire land and sea borders between the two countries.
With the control of the pro-Russian separatists in these areas, it has turned to the Russian way of life, starting with communications, passing through services, and even relying on the Russian ruble instead of the Ukrainian hryvnia, where the population receives monthly salaries and pensions with undeclared Russian support.
pivotal changes
The land borders - controlled by Russia - are now open to the movement of people and goods in the two "republics" that issued their own "passports" recognized only by Russia, but the pivotal changes that occurred in the two regions in general, included:
Displacement
: According to official statistics, the number of (internally) displaced people exceeds 1.5 million, while the number of displaced persons to neighboring Russia is estimated at 600,000.
Naturalization
: Russia is openly accelerating the distribution of its citizenship to the residents of Donetsk and Lugansk.
And in July 2021: Dmitry Kozak, deputy head of the Kremlin administration, announced that about one million Ukrainians acquired Russian citizenship between 2016 and 2020, while Denis Pushilin, head of the "Donetsk People's Republic" stated that 400,000 of the population had already obtained Russian citizenship.
Politicization
: The two regions are completely absent from "Ukrainian" political life today.
On the other hand, several Russian parties with limited popularity, but loyal to the regime in Russia, are active in them.
The year of the first conflict, 2014 was the hottest and bloodiest, during which two tragedies occurred:
The downing of a Malaysian Boeing 777 passenger plane over Donetsk, on July 17, killing all 298 people on board.
What happened in "Ilovaisk" of the tragedy that claimed the lives of 368 Ukrainian soldiers at once, in August, by shelling carried out by separatists during the process of withdrawing from the town.
In general, the armed conflict in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions led to the deaths of 14,000 Ukrainians, including 8,000 soldiers, according to UN statistics.
leaders of the two republics
Before Russia officially recognized the independence of the "Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics", it dealt with them in almost every field, except for air traffic.
In the "two republics", those who were fiercely loyal to Russia were in power, most recently Denis Pushlin, president of the "Donetsk People's Republic", and Leonid Pasichnik, President of "Luhansk People's Republic".
The name of Pushilin has been repeated for years due to his activity and the relative stability of the political situation in Donetsk, unlike Lugansk, which witnessed many disputes between its officials.