Donetsk Oblast

The Donetsk Oblast (Ukrainian: Донецька область - Donets'ka oblast' or Донеччина - Donéchchyna) is an oblast (province) of Ukraine, Its capital is Kramatorsk (provisional). Its population was 4,356,392 in 2013. With an area of 26,500 km², it is a very important part of the Donbas region.

Demographics

The estimated population for 2013 was 4,356,392. According to the 2001 census the ethnic composition of the population of Donetsk Oblast is: Ukrainians 56.9%; Russians 38.2%; Greeks 1.6%; Belarusians 0.9%; Tatars 0.4%; Armenians 0.33%, Jews 0.18%, others 1.31%. The majority of the population, 74.9%, speak Russian, while 24.1% speak Ukrainian.

History

The first signs of human population in the territory date back to the Paleolithic. In the V millennium a. the Dnieper–Donetsk culture of hunter-gatherers in transition to early agriculture developed. The Yamna culture was active between the XXXVI century a. C. and the XXIII century B.C. C. This culture was predominantly nomadic, although they practiced some agriculture near rivers and some castros (fortifications).

The Scythians ruled the region around the VII century BCE. C. In places of the coast the meotes were established. From the III century BC. the Sarmatians settle, one of whose tribes, the Roxolans, crossed the Don River in the middle of the II century BC. C. and in 107 a. C. supported the kingdom of Pontus in the war against the kingdom of the Bosporus. Between the centuries VII and X The Khazars controlled these territories. Between the 11th century and the XIII the region was dominated by the Cumans. In 1223 there was a battle between Cumans and Mongols. In the centuries XVI to XVIII , the northern part of the region came under Russian control, as part of Slobodá Ukraine, and the eastern part was settled by the Don Cossacks. The rest of the territory was populated by the Nogai, under the control of the Crimean Khanate.

The Russo-Turkish War of 1735-1739 brought the Crimean Khanate under Russian subordination and from 1774 it was incorporated into the Russian Empire. Beginning in 1735, Russian, Serb, Bulgarian, German, and Greek settlers settled in the countryside, and Jewish communities flourished in the cities. At the end of the XVIII century, the lower Dnieper and Azov region were divided into provinces. In 1783 the city of Bájmutskaya Slobodá, today Donetsk, was named the capital of the Bájmut uezd, as part of the Yekaterinoslav gubernia.

After the fall of the Russian Empire, the territory of the Donetsk region went through a period of instability between 1918, formed part of the different administrative units of opposing sides: the Donetsk Soviet Republic; the White Army and the Don Republic; the anarchist communes; the German army and the Hetmanate. The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic established the Donetsk guberniya in 1919, which on October 12, 1920 transferred its capital to Bákhmut and by 1921 controlled the entire region.

On July 2, 1932, the Donetsk gubernia was divided into 5 okrugs, of which Artemivsky, Mariupol, and Stalino (Donetsk) make up the current oblast, and on June 3, 1938, they become part of the Stalino (Donetsk) oblast) and the other two from Voroshilovgrad Oblast (Lugansk). German troops occupied the region between October 1941 and September 1943. When the Germans occupied Stalin on October 23 after three days of fighting, the city's inhabitants opened the prison gates and saw three pits filled with corpses. Some of the dead were without arms or legs. The NKVD buried and paved over 4,000 innocent victims in the center of the city. The rest were shot and tortured in a house at 44 Artem Street, where the Philharmonic is now, and in 1932-66. The Chekists raged, seized the "rutchenkove field" in the Kirov district of the city. In the Donetsk region in 1930-50. more than 100,000 citizens were repressed for political reasons. Only now have memorial signs been erected at the site of some of the burials of these innocent victims.

• August 1941 - The 383rd Division of Mining Rifles is formed in Stalino.
• End of October 1941 - German troops control the largest cities in the Donetsk region.
• November 3, 1941 - A Slavic partisan detachment under the command of M. I. Karnaukhov in a battle with a punitive detachment in the Teplinsky forests of the Stalin region destroyed 127 German soldiers and officers.
• November 1941 - February 1942 - activity in the city of Druzhkovka of the clandestine youth organization Komsomol "Lenin spark".
• February 22, 1943 - The GKO decreed on the restoration of coal mines in Donbass.
• August 18, 1943: the beginning of the offensive of the troops of the Southern Front. Mius front advance.
• On September 5, 1943 - Soviet troops took over the cities of Artemivsk and Horlivka.
• September 6, 1943 – Soviet troops took over the city of Konstiantinovka.
• September 6, 1943 - Soviet troops took control of Kramatorsk.
• On September 8, 1943 - Soviet troops took control of Stalin.
• September 10, 1943 – Soviet troops took over Mariupol.

In November 1961 the name of the oblast, "Stálino", was changed to Donetsk. Days before the dissolution of the Soviet Union that took place in 1991, the Ukrainian independence referendum took place, which was overwhelmingly supported in the Donetsk Oblast by 76.85% of voters.

On April 7, 2014, during demonstrations against the authorities established by the Ukrainian revolution known as Euromaidan, a group of pro-Russian protesters occupied the Donetsk regional administration and proclaimed themselves the Donetsk People's Republic.

The self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic called a referendum for May 10, 2014 in which 75% of the electorate voted and the results were 89.7% favorable to independence according to data from the self-proclaimed authorities. The process was held without the presence of international observers.

On July 17, 2020, the People's Deputies of Ukraine adopted the resolution "On Creation and Liquidation of Districts," establishing a new territorial structure of Ukraine. In particular, the Verkhovna Rada supported the draft resolution No. 3650 on the liquidation of 490 existing districts and the creation of 136 new districts in their place. In accordance with the new administrative-territorial division of the Donetsk region, the following districts were created, including on the uncontrolled territory: Bakhmut district, Volnovakha district, Gorlovka district, Donetsk district, Kalmius district, Kramatorsk, Mariupol district, Pokrovsky district

In the aftermath of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, about half of the Oblast's territory is controlled by the Donetsk People's Republic, thanks to Russian military support.

Economy

Donetsk Oblast accounts for more than half of Ukraine's coal, steel and cast iron production. Ferrous metallurgy, fuel and energy production are the main branches of industry. There are about 882 industrial companies and 2,095 small companies.

The oblast has a developed transportation infrastructure that includes the Donetsk Railways, Mariupol port, Donetsk International Airport, passenger airports in Mariupol and Kramatorsk, and a system of highways. Two special economic zones have been created, Donetsk and Azov, which have a privileged tax regime.

In 1999 the gross production of grains in the oblast reached 999,100 tons, that of sugar beets 27,100 tons, sunflower seeds 309,400 tons and potatoes 380,200 tons. Also, 134,200 tons of meat, 494 tons 300 tons of milk and 646,400,000 eggs were produced that year. As of early 1999, 2,108 farms were registered within the oblast.

Administrative divisions

Map

Donetsk province is subdivided into 18 districts, 52 cities and 5 urban settlements.

Urban settlements

Oleksandrivka Manhush Telmanove Velyka Novosilka Volodarske