Luhansk and Donetsk People's republics are located in the historical region of
Donbas, which was added to Ukraine in 1922. The majority of the population speaks Russian as their first language. Attempts by various Ukrainian governments to question the legitimacy of the Russian culture in Ukraine had since the
Declaration of Independence of Ukraine often resulted in political conflict. In the Ukrainian national elections, a remarkably stable pattern had developed, where Donbas and the Western Ukrainian regions had voted for the opposite candidates since the presidential election in 1994.
Viktor Yanukovych, a Donetsk native, had been elected as a president of Ukraine in 2010. His overthrow in the
2014 Ukrainian revolution led to protests in Eastern Ukraine, which gradually escalated into an armed conflict between the newly formed Ukrainian government and the local armed militias. In 2011, Ukrainian Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts had a combined population of 6,1mln. As a result of Russian military aggression in 2014, 2 million had to leave the region as refugees. After full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, under the false pretext of "genocide of Russian speakers", another approx. 3 mln. either fled or were killed, resulting in total in 80% decrease of Donbas population. According to political scientist
Taras Kuzio, this amounts to "destruction, depopulation, and genocide".
Formation (2014–2015) Occupation of government buildings building in Luhansk On 5 March 2014, 12 days after the protesters in Kyiv seized the president's office (at the time
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych had already fled Ukraine), a crowd of people in front of the Luhansk Oblast State Administration building proclaimed
Aleksandr Kharitonov as "People's Governor" in Luhansk region. On 9 March 2014 Luganskaya Gvardiya of Kharitonov stormed the government building in Luhansk and forced the newly appointed
Governor of Luhansk Oblast,
Mykhailo Bolotskykh, to sign a letter of resignation. One thousand pro-Russian activists seized and occupied the
Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) building in the city of
Luhansk on 6 April 2014, following similar occupations in
Donetsk and
Kharkiv. The activists demanded that separatist leaders who had been arrested in previous weeks be released. It was proposed by the activists that a "Lugansk Parliamentary Republic" be declared on 8 April 2014, but this did not occur. By 12 April, the government had regained control over the SBU building with the assistance of local police forces. Several thousand protesters gathered for a 'people's assembly' outside the regional state administration (RSA) building in Luhansk city on 21 April. These protesters called for the creation of a 'people's government', and demanded either federalisation of Ukraine or incorporation of Luhansk into the
Russian Federation. They elected
Valery Bolotov as 'People's Governor' of Luhansk Oblast. Two referendums were announced by the leadership of the activists. One was scheduled for 11 May, and was meant to determine whether the region would seek greater autonomy (and potentially independence), or retain its previous constitutional status within Ukraine. Another referendum, meant to be held on 18 May in the event that the first referendum favoured autonomy, was to determine whether the region would join the Russian Federation, or become independent. proclaims the Act of Independence of the Luhansk People's Republic, 12 May 2014 During a gathering outside the RSA building on 27 April 2014, pro-Russian activists proclaimed the "Luhansk People's Republic". The protesters issued demands, which said that the Ukrainian government should provide amnesty for all protesters, include the Russian language as an official language of Ukraine, and also hold a referendum on the status of Luhansk Oblast. As the Ukrainian government did not respond to these demands, 2,000 to 3,000 activists, some of them armed, seized the RSA building, and a local prosecutor's office, on 29 April. The buildings were both ransacked, and then occupied by the protesters. Protestors waved local flags, alongside those of Russia and the neighbouring Donetsk People's Republic. The police officers that had been guarding the building offered little resistance to the takeover, and some of them defected and supported the activists.
Territorial expansion Demonstrations by pro-Russian activists began to spread across Luhansk Oblast towards the end of April. The municipal administration building in
Pervomaisk was overrun on 29 April 2014, and the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) flag was raised over it.
Oleksandr Turchynov, then acting president of Ukraine, admitted the next day that government forces were unable to stabilise the situation in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. On the same day, activists seized control of the
Alchevsk municipal administration building. In
Krasnyi Luch, the municipal council conceded to demands by activists to support the 11 May 2014 referendum, and followed by raising the Russian flag over the building. Activists in
Rovenky occupied a police building there on 5 May, but quickly left. On the same day, the police headquarters in
Slovianoserbsk was seized by members of the
Army of the South-East, a pro-Russian Luhansk regional militia group. In addition, the town of
Antratsyt was occupied by the
Don Cossacks. Some said that the occupiers came from Russia; the Cossacks themselves said that only a few people among them had come from Russia. On 7 May, insurgents also seized the prosecutor's office in
Sievierodonetsk. Luhansk People's Republic supporters stormed government buildings in
Starobilsk on 8 May, replacing the Ukrainian flag with that of the Republic. Sources within the Ukrainian
Ministry of Internal Affairs said that as of 10 May 2014, the day before the proposed status referendum, Ukrainian forces still retained control over 50% of Luhansk Oblast.
Status referendum and declaration of independence The planned referendum on the status of Luhansk oblast was held on 11 May 2014. The organisers of the referendum said that 96.2% of those who voted were in favour of self-rule, with 3.8% against. They said that voter turnout was at 81%. There were no international observers present to validate the referendum. The still-extant Luhansk Oblast Council did not support independence, but called for immediate federalisation of Ukraine, asserting that "an absolute majority of people voted for the right to make their own decisions about how to live". The council also requested an immediate end to Ukrainian military activity in the region, amnesty for anti-government protestors, and official status for the Russian language in Ukraine. Luhansk People's Republic authorities blamed the incident on the Ukrainian government. Government forces later captured Alexei Rilke, the commander of the
Army of the South-East. The next day, Ukrainian border guards arrested Valery Bolotov. Just over two hours later, after unsuccessfully attempting negotiations, 150 to 200 armed separatists attacked the Dovzhansky checkpoint where he had been held. The ensuing firefight led Ukrainian government forces to free Bolotov. On 24 May 2014 the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic jointly announced their intention to form a
confederative "union of People's Republics" called
New Russia. Republic President Valery Bolotov said on 28 May that the Luhansk People's Republic would begin to introduce its own legislation based on
Russian law; he said
Ukrainian law was unsuitable due to it being "written for oligarchs". Vasily Nikitin, prime minister of the Republic, announced that elections to the State Council would take place in September. The leadership of the Luhansk People's Republic said on 12 June 2014 that it would attempt to establish a "union state" with Russia. The government added that it would seek to boost trade with Russia through legislative, agricultural and economic changes. Don Cossacks there proclaimed the
Republic of Stakhanov, and said that a "Cossack government" now ruled in Stakhanov. However the following day this an unnamed Don Cossack leader stated this to be a fabrication, and said the 14 September meeting had, in fact, resulted in 12,000 Cossacks volunteering to join the LPR forces. Elections to the LPR Supreme Council took place on 2 November 2014, as the LPR did not allow the
Ukrainian parliamentary election to be held in territory under its control.
Human rights in the early stages of the war In May 2014, the
United Nations observed an "alarming deterioration" of human rights in insurgent-held territory in eastern Ukraine. The UN detailed growing lawlessness, documenting cases of targeted killings, torture, and abduction, carried out by Luhansk People's Republic insurgents. An 18 November 2014 United Nations report on
eastern Ukraine declared that the Luhansk People's Republic was in a state of "total breakdown of law and order". The report noted "cases of serious human rights abuses by the armed groups continued to be reported, including torture, arbitrary and incommunicado detention,
summary executions, forced labour, sexual violence, as well as the destruction and illegal seizure of property may amount to
crimes against humanity". In November 2014,
Amnesty International called the "People's Court" (public trials where allegedly random locals are the jury) held in the Luhansk People's Republic "an outrageous violation of the international humanitarian law". In December 2015 the
OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine reported "Parallel 'justice systems' have begun operating" in territory controlled by the Luhansk People's Republic. They criticised this judiciary to be "non-transparent, subject to constant change, seriously under-resourced and, in many instances, completely non-functional". On 12 February 2015, DPR and LPR leaders
Alexander Zakharchenko and
Igor Plotnitsky signed the
Minsk II agreement, although without any mention of their self-proclaimed titles or the republics. In the Minsk agreement it is agreed to introducing amendments to the
Ukrainian constitution "the key element of which is
decentralisation" and the holding of elections "on temporary order of local self-governance in particular districts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, based in the line set up by the
Minsk Memorandum as of 19 September 2014"; in return rebel held territory would be reintegrated into Ukraine. Representatives of the DPR and LPR continue to forward their proposals concerning Minsk II to the
Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine. Plotnitsky told journalists on 18 February 2015: "Will we be part of Ukraine? This depends on what kind of Ukraine it will be. If it remains like it is now, we will never be together." On 20 May 2015, the leadership of the Federal State of
Novorossiya announced the termination of the confederation 'project'. On 19 April 2016, planned (organised by the LPR) local elections were postponed from 24 April to 24 July 2016. On 22 July 2016, this elections was again postponed to 6 November 2016. (On 2 October 2016, the DPR and LPR held "primaries" in were voters voted to nominate candidates for participation in the 6 November 2016 elections.) The "LPR Prosecutor General's Office" announced late September 2016, that it had thwarted a coup attempt ringleaded by former LPR appointed prime minister
Gennadiy Tsypkalov (who they stated had committed suicide on 23 September while in detention). Meanwhile, it had also imprisoned former LPR parliamentary speaker
Aleksey Karyakin and former LPR interior minister, Igor Kornet. DPR leader Zakharchenko said he had helped to thwart the coup (stating "I had to send a battalion to solve their problems"). Mid-March 2017
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a decree on a temporary ban on the movement of goods to and from territory controlled by the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic and
Donetsk People's Republic; this also means that since then Ukraine does not buy coal from the
Donets Black Coal Basin. On 21 November 2017,
armed men in unmarked uniforms took up positions in the center of Luhansk in what appeared to be a power struggle between the head of the republic Plotnitsky and the (sacked by Plotnitsky) LPR appointed interior minister Igor Kornet. Media reports stated that the DPR had sent armed troops to Luhansk the following night. The website stated that security minister
Leonid Pasechnik had been named acting leader "until the next elections." On 25 November the 38-member separatist republic's People's Council unanimously approved Plotnitsky's resignation. Pasechnik declared his adherence to the
Minsk accords, claiming "The republic will be consistently executing the obligations taken under these agreements." In June 2019 Russia started giving
Russian passports to the inhabitants of the LPR and
Donetsk People's Republic under a simplified procedure allegedly on "humanitarian grounds" (such as enabling international travel for eastern Ukrainian residents whose passports have expired). According to
Ukrainian press by mid-2021 half a million Russian passports had been received by local residents. Deputy
Kremlin Chief of Staff Dmitry Kozak stated in a July 2021 interview with
Politique internationale that 470 thousand local residents had received a Russian passport; he added that "as soon as the situation in
Donbas is resolved....The general procedure for granting citizenship will be restored." In early June 2020, the LPR declared Russian as the only state language on its territory, removing Ukrainian from its school curriculum. Previously the separatist leaders had made Ukrainian LPR's second state language, but in practice it was already disappearing from school curricula prior to June 2020. In January 2021 the Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic stated in a "Russian Donbas doctrine" that they aimed to seize all of the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblast under control by the Ukrainian government "in the near future."
International status The Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) initially sought recognition as a
sovereign state following its declaration of independence in April 2014. Subsequently, the LPR willingly acceded to the Russian Federation as a
Russian federal subject in September–October 2022, effectively ceasing to exist as a sovereign state in any capacity and revoking its status as such in the eyes of the international community. The LPR claims
direct succession to Ukraine's Luhansk Oblast. From 2014 to 2022, Ukraine, the United Nations, and most of the international community regarded the LPR as an illegal entity occupying a portion of Ukraine's Luhansk Oblast
(see: International sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian war). The Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), which had a similar backstory, was regarded in the exact same way. Crimea's status was
treated slightly differently since Russia annexed that territory immediately after its declaration of independence in March 2014. Up until February 2022, Russia did not recognise the LPR, although it maintained informal relations with the LPR. On 21 February 2022, Russia officially recognised the LPR and the DPR at the same time, marking a major escalation in the
2021–2022 diplomatic crisis between Russia and Ukraine. Three days later, on 24 February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of the entire country of Ukraine, partially under the pretext of protecting the LPR and the DPR. The war had wide-reaching repercussions for Ukraine, Russia, and the international community as a whole
(see: War crimes, Humanitarian impact, Environmental impact, Economic impact, and Ukrainian cultural heritage). In September 2022, Russia made moves to consolidate the territories that it had occupied in Ukraine, including
Donetsk,
Kherson,
Luhansk, and
Zaporizhzhia Oblasts. Russia
officially annexed these four territories in September–October 2022. Between February 2022 and October 2022, in addition to receiving Russian recognition, the LPR was recognised by North Korea (13 July 2022) and Syria (29 June 2022). This means that three United Nations member states recognised the LPR in total throughout its period of claimed independence. The LPR was also recognised by three other breakaway entities: the DPR, South Ossetia (19 June 2014), and Abkhazia (25 February 2022).
Relations with Ukraine The Ukrainian government passed the "" on 16 September 2014, which designated a special status within Ukraine on certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, in line with the
Minsk agreements. The status lasted for three years, and then was extended annually several times. In January 2015, Ukraine declared the Russia-backed
separatist republics in Donbas to be
terrorist organisations.
Relations with Russia During most of its lifetime, Russia did not recognise the LPR as a state. It nevertheless recognised official documents issued by the LPR authorities, such as identity documents, diplomas, birth and marriage certificates and vehicle registration plates. This recognition was introduced in February 2017 Ukrainian authorities decried the decree and claimed that it was contradictory to the Minsk II agreement, and also that it "legally recognised the quasi-state terrorist groups which cover Russia's occupation of part of
Donbas." On 21 February 2022, the Russian government recognised the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics in dawn of
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. During the invasion, forces from the LPR fought together with Russian forces against Ukraine. On 3 July 2022, Russia claimed to have full control over Ukraine's Luhansk Oblast.
Russian invasion of Ukraine and Russo-Ukrainian war (2022–present) On 21 February 2022,
Russia recognised the independence of the DPR and LPR. The next day, the
Federation Council of Russia authorised the use of military force, and Russian forces openly advanced into both territories. Russian president
Vladimir Putin declared that the Minsk agreements "no longer existed", and that Ukraine, not Russia, was to blame for their collapse. A military attack into Ukrainian government-controlled territory began on the morning of 24 February, when Putin
announced a "special military operation" to "
demilitarise and
denazify" Ukraine. in
Sievierodonetsk after Russian shelling. On May 6, as part of the
eastern Ukraine offensive, the
Russian Armed Forces and Luhansk People's Republic military started a
battle to capture Sievierodonetsk, the de facto administrative capital of
Ukrainian-controlled
Luhansk Oblast. On 25 June 2022, Sievierodonetsk was fully occupied by Russian and separatist forces. This was followed by the capture of
Lysychansk on 3 July, which brought all of Luhansk Oblast under the control of Russian and separatist forces. The entirety of Luhansk Oblast was controlled by pro-Russian forces for a period of approximately two months. However, as part of a
Ukrainian counteroffensive on the
eastern front, one village,
Bilohorivka was recaptured by Ukrainian forces by 10 September.
Annexation by Russia On 19 September 2022, the People's Councils in both the Luhansk People's Republic and the
Donetsk People's Republic appealed to their respective heads of state to "immediately" conduct referendums on joining Russia. The next day, the LPR's People's Council scheduled a referendum on the republic's entry into Russia as a
federal subject for 23–27 September. However, the referendum was not recognised by most members of the
international community, citing the absence of international monitoring and concerns regarding its compliance with
international law. Consequently, many states regarded the vote as invalid and inconsistent with Ukraine's
territorial integrity. On 28 September, following the conclusion of the
annexation referendums, Russian authorities announced results indicating strong support for annexation. In the Luhansk People's Republic, officials reported that 98% of participants voted in favour, with a reported turnout of 94%. On 30 September 2022, Russia's president
Vladimir Putin addressed the
Russian parliament and announced and signed the
annexation of four regions that held the referendums, including the Luhansk People's Republic. On 12 October 2022, the
United Nations General Assembly passed
Resolution ES-11/4 condemning the referendum and annexation processes as inconsistent with the
UN Charter. The resolution received a vast majority of 143 countries in support of condemning Russia's annexation, 35 abstaining, and only 5 against condemning Russia's annexation. == Demographics ==