In parallel to the developments in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in February and March 2014, pro-Russian rallies were organized in the eastern regions of Ukraine. Demonstrations took to the streets in Donbas, Kharkov, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa.

On 1 February, the “Ukrainian Front” was set up, which was supposed to be a counterweight to the Euromaidan. Its founding fathers were representatives of the Party of Regions. Mykhailo Dobkin, governor of the Kharkiv Oblast and Hennadiy Kernes, mayor of Kharkiv came up as leaders of the organization. It did not declare itself as separatist but only as representative of the people of the eastern regions of Ukraine and the Russian-speaking population. A month later, on 1 March 2014, a raid was launched to take over the regional administration building in Kharkiv, following which a Russian flag was hung on it. On the same day, Pavel Gubarev (detained by the Security Service of Ukraine on 6 March 2014 for threatening the territorial integrity of Ukraine) declared himself “people’s governor” in Donetsk. Similar attempts to seize regional administration buildings took place in Luhansk and Odesa. 

On 7 April 2014, in the meeting room of the Donetsk Regional State Administration, separatists announced the “Declaration of the Sovereignty of the Donetsk People’s Republic”. However, the declaration was not adopted by any legal authority, but by self-proclaimed members of the “People’s Council”, who had seized the regional administration building the day before. In addition to local activists, soldiers and sabotage groups from the Russian Federation took part in destabilization operations. 

On 12 April, an attempt was launched to seize the regional headquarters of the militia in Donetsk, which was carried out by people in uniforms without insignia using weapons being standard equipment of the Russian military. 

On 25 May 2014, presidential elections were held in Ukraine, won by Petro Poroshenko. On 27 June, an Association Agreement with the European Union was signed. On 26 October 2014, the National Front won the parliamentary elections in Ukraine, and Arseniy Yatsenyuk became the head of the government. In the unrecognized republics in eastern Ukraine, elections were held on 2 November, won by Alexander Zakharchenko in Donetsk and Igor Plotnitsky in Luhansk. Their results have not been recognized as legal by the international community, except the Russian Federation. 

Photo: Pro-Russian activists demonstrating near the regional administration building. Visible flags of Russia, DLR and Donetsk region, April 7, 2014. Photo by Andrew Butko, CC BY-SA 3.0.