Donbas
industrial region in southeastern Ukraine and southwestern Russia
The Donbas (UK: , US: ; Ukrainian: Донбас [donˈbɑs]) or Donbass (Russian: Донбасс [dɐnˈbas]) is a historical, cultural, and economic region on the Russia–Ukraine border, lying predominantly in Ukraine. The vast majority of the Donbas is occupied by Russia as a result of the Russo-Ukrainian war, as the Russian Armed Forces controlled about 90% of the region as of October 2025. At the last census in 2001, the population of the Donbas region of Ukraine was about 58% ethnic Ukrainian and 38% ethnic Russian.
There are several definitions of the region's extent. In modern geopolitics, the Donbas usually refers to Donetsk Oblast and Luhansk Oblast in Ukraine. The Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine defines the "small Donbas" as the northern part of Donetsk and the southern part of Luhansk oblasts in Ukraine, and the attached part of Rostov Oblast in Russia. The historical coal mining region excluded parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, but included areas in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and Southern Russia. The Euroregion of Donbas is composed of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in Ukraine and Rostov Oblast in Russia.
The Donbas formed the historical border between the Zaporozhian Sich and the Don Cossack Host. It has been an important coal mining area since the late 19th century, when it became a heavily industrialised territory.
The public source identifies “Donbas” as industrial region in southeastern Ukraine and southwestern Russia. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Donbas, industrial and region.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q605714. Authority coordinates are 48.000, 37.800. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2025 and 2001.
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This entry incorporates text from “Donbas” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.