Donetsk << do NEHTSK >> (pop. 949,825) is the largest city in the Donets River Basin. The city lies in eastern Ukraine.
Donetsk is in the center of the rich Donets coal fields, an area also known as Donbas. The coal is used in the huge iron and steel mills that make Donetsk an important industrial city. Machinery and food products are also produced there. The city was founded in 1869.
Donetsk is also the official capital of the Donetsk Oblast (also called the Donetska Oblast) in eastern Ukraine. An oblast is a province. The Donetsk Oblast covers about 10,238 square miles (26,517 square kilometers).
In 2014, a small group of pro-Russian separatists took over government buildings in the city of Donetsk. Conflict developed between such separatist groups in eastern Ukraine and Ukraine’s central government. Separatists in the two oblasts of Donetsk and Luhansk, both in the Donbas area, gained control over part of each oblast, including the city of Donetsk.
In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, claiming that it acted, in part, to support the pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk. Russian troops and missiles struck at cities throughout Ukraine. By late spring, however, the Russian forces increasingly focused on taking over the resource-rich lands of the Donbas region. Many nations condemned Russia’s invasion.
