An Abridged History of Luhansk and Donetsk

A map featuring the breakaway regions of Luhansk and Donetsk. Wikimedia Commons

On February 21, President Putin officially recognized the independence of the Luhansk and Donbas regions. Prior to this move, analysts speculated that the conflict between Ukraine and Russia may be on the path to deescalation. After Putin’s address, however, alarm bells are ringing even louder. So, what exactly are these regions, and why do they matter? 

The regions, or oblasts, of Luhansk and Donetsk are located in eastern Ukraine on the border with Russia. They have a unique history: most of the inhabitants of these regions identify as culturally Russian, speaking Russian instead of Ukrainian. This is because thousands of Russians were forcibly relocated to the regions during the Soviet era to work in the coal mines, which are abundant in both places and a major source of potential revenue. 

When the state of Ukraine formed, the regions existed relatively peacefully within Ukraine. In 2014, however, they became the epicenter of the struggle between Ukraine and Russia. 

That year, the president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, rejected a deal for greater integration with the EU, sparking mass protests across the country in a popular movement known as Euromaidan. The protests eventually led to a regime change and his replacement with a pro-Western government. 

Because Putin regards Ukraine as occupying the same “historical and spiritual space” as Russia, this shift in Ukraine’s orientation presented a major threat to Russia’s security interests. In response, Russia annexed Crimea, another cultural and linguistically majority-Russian region of Ukraine.

After 2014, separatist movements within the oblasts of Luhansk and Donetsk arose in full force, taking over significant swaths of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. These separatists, who are entirely dependent on funding from the Russian state, seized control of local government offices and declared independence from Ukraine. In order to maintain political influence in Ukraine’s government, Ukrainian and U.S. parties have claimed that Russia incited these movements. 

Following the Minsk Agreement, which negotiated a ceasefire to the 2014 conflict, separatist leaders in the regions of Luhansk and Donbas controlled around one-third of all territory in the region. Since then, the areas have been in a deadlock, with neither Russia nor Ukraine exercising full control. Their independence is not recognized by the international community. 

Each territory also possesses its own leadership independent of the Ukrainian government. The Donetsk People’s Republic elected Denis Pushilin Head of State in 2018, and Leonid Pasechnik leads the Luhansk separatist region. Each leader has spoken openly about the possibility of reunification with Russia. 

Since 2014, Russia has continued to fund separatist leaders in Donbas and Luhansk. In addition, Moscow has extended Russian citizenship and passports to nearly 800,000 people– approximately one-fifth of the population– in these regions. This gambit is part of a greater effort by Moscow to portray these regions as victims of Ukrainian nationalism. 

Moscow has accused Ukraine of “genocide” in these breakaway regions, claiming that Kiev forces are killing residents of breakaway regions because of their Russian heritage. Meanwhile, the United States alleges that Putin’s victimization of the people in Luhansk and Donetsk is being used as a pretext for invasion. 

Luhansk and Donetsk becoming a flash point for possible conflict between Russia and NATO is a new, though perhaps not entirely unexpected, development in the region’s complex history.