• Contested territories
  • Annexed by Russia (30 September 2022)
  • Independence declared 12 May 2014
  • Head of State Leonid Ivanovich Pasechnik
  • Capital Luhansk
  • Population 1,464,039

The Donbas region in Eastern Ukraine has been ravaged by constant turmoil in the last decade. On 30 September 2022, president Vladimir Putin proclaimed Russian rule over Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, in total fifteen percent of Ukraine's territory—the biggest annexation in Europe since World War Two. Putins proclamation followed shortly after referendums in these regions were held, referendums that were called 'a sham' by the international community. Luhansk People's Republic already proclaimed independence in Spring 2014, in the wake of the Ukrainian revolution. In February 2022, Russian president Putin formally recognized the independence of Luhansk and The Donetsk People’s Republic, a deed that led up to the war between Russia and Ukraine.