Editing War in Donbass (section)

[[File:War_in_Donbass.jpg|thumb|Ukrainian servicemen of the Donbass volunteer battalion take part in operations in a village in the Lysychansk district of the Luhansk region on Jan. 28, 2015.]]
The '''war in Donbass''' is an armed conflict in the Donbass region of Ukraine, part of the broader Russo-Ukrainian War. 

From the beginning of March 2014, in the aftermath of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution and the Euromaidan movement, protests by pro-Russian, anti-government separatist groups took place in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine, collectively called the Donbass region. These demonstrations, which followed the February–March 2014 annexation of Crimea by [[Vladimir Putin]], and which were part of a wider group of concurrent protests across southern and eastern Ukraine, escalated into an armed conflict between the separatist forces of the self-declared [[Donetsk People's Republic|Donetsk]] and [[Luhansk People's Republic]]s (DPR and LPR, respectively), and the Ukrainian government.

While the initial protests were largely native expressions of discontent with the new Ukrainian government, Russia took advantage of them to launch a co-ordinated political and military campaign against Ukraine. Russian citizens led the separatist movement in Donetsk from April until August 2014, and were supported by volunteers and materiel from Russia. 

As the conflict escalated in May 2014, Russia employed a "hybrid approach", deploying a combination of disinformation tactics, irregular fighters, regular Russian troops, and conventional military support to destabilize the Donbass region.

Ukraine launched a military counter-offensive against pro-Russian forces in April 2014, called the "Anti-Terrorist Operation" (ATO) from 2014 until 2018, when it was renamed the "Joint Forces Operation" (JFO). By late August 2014, this operation was able to vastly shrink the territory under the control of pro-Russian forces and came close to regaining control of the Russia–Ukraine border. In response, Russia abandoned its hybrid approach and began a conventional invasion of the Donbass.

Following reports of Ukrainian positions being shelled from the Russian side of the border, between 22 and 25 August 2014, Russian artillery, personnel, and what Russia called a "humanitarian convoy" crossed the border. Russian crossings reportedly occurred both in areas that were controlled by pro-Russian forces and those that were not, such as the south-eastern part of Donetsk Oblast, near Novoazovsk. Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Valentyn Nalyvaichenko characterised the events of 22 August as a "direct invasion by Russia of Ukraine", while other Western and Ukrainian officials described the events as a Russian "stealth invasion".

Russia's official position on the presence of Russian forces in Donbass has been vague; while official bodies have denied the presence of "regular armed forces" in Ukraine, it has on numerous occasions confirmed the presence of "military specialists", along with other euphemisms, usually accompanied by an argument that Russia "was forced" to deploy them to "defend the Russian-speaking population".

As a result of the invasion, DPR and LPR insurgents regained much of the territory they had lost during the Ukrainian government's preceding military offensive. Ukraine, Russia, the DPR and the LPR signed an agreement to establish a ceasefire, called the Minsk Protocol, on 5 September 2014. Violations of the ceasefire on both sides became common. Amidst the solidification of the line between insurgent and government-controlled territory during the ceasefire, warlords took control of swaths of land on the insurgent side, leading to further destabilisation.

The ceasefire completely collapsed in January 2015, with renewed heavy fighting across the conflict zone, including at Donetsk International Airport and at Debaltseve. Involved parties agreed to a new ceasefire, called Minsk II, on 12 February 2015. Immediately following the signing of the agreement, separatist forces launched an offensive on Debaltseve and forced Ukrainian forces to withdraw from it. In the months after the fall of Debaltseve, minor skirmishes continued along the line of contact, but no territorial changes occurred. The stalemate led to the war being labelled a "frozen conflict"; despite this, the area remained a war zone, with dozens of soldiers and civilians killed each month.

In 2017, on average one Ukrainian soldier died in combat every three days, with the number of Russian and separatist troops remaining in the region estimated at 6,000 and 40,000 respectively. By the end of 2017, the OSCE observatory mission had accounted for around 30,000 individuals in military-style dress crossing from Russia to Donbass at the two border checkpoints it was allowed to monitor. The OSCE has also documented numerous cases of military convoys crossing from the Russian Federation into the occupied territory on dirt roads away from official border crossings and usually at night.

Since the start of the conflict there have been 29 ceasefires, each intended to remain in force indefinitely, but none of them have stopped the violence. The most successful attempt to halt the fighting was in 2016, when a ceasefire held for six consecutive weeks. Ukraine, Russia, the DPR, the LPR and the OSCE agreed to a roadmap for an end to the conflict on 1 October 2019. However, the conflict did not thaw since then and, by late summer 2020, still remained unresolved on multiple levels.

The latest ceasefire came into force on 27 July 2020 which led to no Ukrainian combat losses for more than a month. According to Ukrainian authorities, from 27 July 2020 until 7 November 2020 Ukrainian mortal losses decreased tenfold (three Ukrainian soldiers were killed) and the number of attacks decreased 5.5-fold. The first trimester of 2021 saw a large increase in Ukrainian fatalities (25, compared with 50 deaths in the whole of 2020) and the buildup of a large Russian military force on the Donbass-Russian border late March to early April 2021 and from late October and November 2021 onwards.

Russia announced recognition of the DPR and LPR on 21 February 2022, and on 24 February launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The [[Azov Battalion]], the [[Russian Orthodox Army]], and the [[Russian Imperial Movement]] have all participated in the War in Donbass.

Non-governmental organisations, such as Amnesty International, have raised concerns about [[war crimes]] being perpetrated by both Russian and Ukrainian forces. Amnesty International said that they often acted like "renegade gangs", and were implicated in [[torture]], [[kidnapping]]s, and summary executions. 

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