Donetsk People's Republic
Videos
The Donetsk People's Republic is an internationally unrecognized republic of Russia, comprising the occupied parts of eastern Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast, with its capital in Donetsk. The DPR was created by Russian-backed paramilitaries in 2014, and it initially operated as a breakaway state until it was annexed by Russia in 2022.
Ukrainian riot police guarding the entrance to the RSA building on 7 March 2014
Ukrainian military roadblocks in Donetsk oblast on 8 May 2014
Pro-Russian separatists occupying the Donetsk RSA building on 7 April 2014
Sloviansk city council under the control of heavily armed men on 14 April 2014
From the end of February 2014, in the aftermath of the Euromaidan and the Revolution of Dignity, which resulted in the ousting of Russian-leaning Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, demonstrations by Russian-backed, pro-Russian, and anti-government groups took place in major cities across the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine. The unrest, which was supported by Russian military and intelligence, belongs to the early stages of the Russo-Ukrainian War.
Anti-Maidan in Kyiv, 14 December 2013
Russian "little green men" during the seizure of Perevalne military base, 9 March 2014
Pro-Russian protest in Donetsk, 6 April 2014. Pictured are flags of the Donetsk People's Republic, the Russian Empire, and the Eurasian Youth Union.