Donetsk, formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka, Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capital of the Donetsk People's Republic. The population was estimated at 901,645 in the city core, with over 2 million in the metropolitan area (2011). According to the 2001 census, Donetsk was the fifth-largest city in Ukraine.
Image: Самый большой храм Донецка. panoramio
Image: Донбас палас
Image: Площадь Ленина 052
Image: Памятник Ленину (пл. им. Ленина, Донецк)
The Ukrainian language is an East Slavic language of the Indo-European language family spoken primarily in Ukraine. It is the native language of a majority of Ukrainians.
"Lenten Triodion" of Kiev Metropolitan Petro Mohyla, 1646
Miniature of St Luke from the Peresopnytsia Gospels (1561).
While Russian was a de facto official language of the Soviet Union in all but formal name, all national languages were proclaimed equal. The name and denomination of Soviet banknotes were listed in the languages of all fifteen Soviet republics. On this 1961 1 Rbl note, the Ukrainian for "one rouble", один карбованець (odyn karbovanets`), directly follows the Russian один рубль (odin rubl`).
Ukrainian language traffic sign for the Ivan Franko Museum in Kryvorivnia.