Five years ago this week, pro-Russian protesters seized the main government building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk and proceeded to declare the formation of an independent “republic.” Their allies in the neighboring Luhansk region followed suit, setting the stage for a conflict between Kyiv’s forces and Russia-backed separatists in the two Ukrainian regions that has killed some 13,000 since April 2014.
Russia's War Against Ukraine
RFE/RL: Life in eastern Ukraine after five years of war
A residential house damaged by shelling at the Mayorsk point of entry, pictured on Dec. 17, 2018.
