Donets'k (Ukrainian: Донецьк, Russian: Доне́цк) is a city in eastern Ukraine. Administratively, it is a center of Donets'ka oblast', historically - the unofficial capital and largest city of the Donets Basin region.

The city has 970,000 inhabitants (2004), the metropolitan area has 1,566,000 inhabitants (2004). Donets'k and surrounding territories are heavily urbanized and agglomerated into conurbation.

The metro construction beneath Donets'k is underway, but no station is yet operating.

History and Ethnopolitics

The city (an industrial community at the time, actually) was founded in 1869 when English businessman John Hughes built a metallurgical plant and several coal mines and initially was given the name Yuzovka (Yuz being a phonetic rendering of Hughes). In 1924 it was renamed to Stalino (after Joseph Stalin) and later, in 1961, it was renamed again to the present-day name Donetsk.

While most of Ukraine to the west speaks Ukrainian, many residents of Donetsk and the surrounding region are immigrants from Russia or descended from such immigrants, and thus speak Russian. Residents of this region tend to be more pro-Russian in political leanings, while residents of the western part of Ukraine tend to be more pro-Western.

External link

• History of Donetsk and the story of the founder

See also

List of European cities with alternative names#D