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# Donetsk People's Republic (Ukraine)

##

Last modified: 2026-08-21 by martin karner
Keywords: donetsk | ukraine |
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(2:3) image by António Martins, 23 March 2018

- The Flag
- Separatist Flag
- People's Militia of Donbass
- Mountaineering Federation of the Donetsk People's Republic
- Ministry of Emergency Situations

See also:

- Donetsk People's Republic Government Flags
- Lugansk People's Republic
- "Novorossiya Republic" (Ukraine)
- Donetsk County
- Lugansk County
- Russian annexed municipalities (Ukraine)
- Russian invasion of Ukraine (2014/2022 – onwards)
- Ukraine

## The Flag

Donetsk, the province of Ukraine that declared independence as the Donetsk People's Republic on 12th May 2014, has finally adopted the state flag. It's the tricolour black, blue, red (2:3), without the coat of arms or lettering.
Parliament adopted the flag on 9 February 2018, and it was approved for publication by the president the following 28 February.
You can find the law, in Russian, here.
Jos Poels, 23 March 2018

## Separatist Flag

image by H B, 15 April 2014
alternate image by Pete Loeser, 19 June 2017

Unidentified flag at Ukraine miners demonstration, reported by Jens Pattke, is identified by www.vexillologia.ru as flag of Donshchyna or Donetsk Republic – easternmost part of Ukraine (Donetsk and Luhansk oblast, maybe also Kharkiv and southern part of Zaporizhe, so called New Russia), where people predominantly speak Russian, even ethnic Ukrainians, and support former president Yanukovych. Flag has three vertical stripes: red symbolise the fight for freedom (rather nostalgic for communism, I think), blue is for water of Donets river and Azov sea and black is for coal, the main resource of regions wealth. I send you variant of Donshchyna flag with inverted colours, indistinct shield and incipit "Donetsk republic".
Jakub Grombir, 6 February 2008

Photos with that flag are here [not retrievable] and here [not retrievable]. I also found a photo with black variant of flag here [retrieved].
(Photo located by William Garrison, 18 Jan 2025)
Aleksandar Nemet, 17 January 2010

The separatist flag with the double-headed eagle is widely used by mountaineers, who display it on the top the mountains they have climbed.
Photos:
http://www.dsnews.ua/society/ukrainskie-alpinisty-podnyali-flag-dnr-na-elbruse-01032018195200
https://www.glavny.tv/news/26846
https://www.donetsk.kp.ru/online/news/2799001/
https://vsednr.ru/alpinisty-dnr-sovershili-voskhozhdeni/
https://politua.org/2018/03/01/37474/
http://smdnr.ru/alpinisty-iz-dnr-prinyali-uchastie-v-massovom-vosxozhdenii-na-elbrus/

Ivan Sache, 11 January 2019

## People's Militia of Donbass

image located by Esteban Rivera
(The flag is on the right – The screen shot from the second video is mentioned below)

In this BBC news report there are two embedded videos. In the first video titled "Ukraine crisis: casualties in Sloviansk gun battles" as well as on the second video titled "Ukraine crisis: Kramatorsk police headquarters stormed", there's an flag, which is a horizontal flag which shows one element which is the Order of St. George orange/black stripes, but there's an inscription that goes along the flag and also what seems to be an unidentified logo or a CoA.
Esteban Rivera, 13 April 2014

image by Victor Lomantsov

You saw the flag of the "People`s Militia of Donbass" (Narodnoe Opolchenie Donbassa), a movement founded in Donetsk in 2013. "Donbass" is an abbreviation of "Donetsk Coal Basin" (Donetsk Coal-Field), very often used as an alternative name of the region.
One note: Kramatorsk is not in Crimea. It is in the Donetsk region of continental Ukraine.
Victor Lomantsov, 13 April 2014

The flag above the megaphone looks like a Soviet navy flag. Is the object including the St. George stripes a flag or a poster on the entrance of the building?
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 20 April 2014

Well, considering there's a staff going up to it, I'd opt for a flag.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 20 April 2014

Since Victor kindly identified this flag, it's proper to have additional information on this flag and relocate it to where it belongs. I suggest within this page, the Donetsk Republic.
"The Donbass People's Militia is an armed pro-Russian group that declared allegiance to the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic. It is formed of mostly civilians turned into informal militias with mismatched uniforms and unclear identities. They also hold several light guns and armour. They are mostly active in the Donetsk Oblast and are led by Pavel Gubarev, who was designated by protesters as their regional governor. Gubarev is a former member of the neo-Nazi Russian National Unity paramilitary group.
Since March 2, 2014 protesters began collect signatures for a referendum to define Donetsk's future. The members of Donbass People´s Militia were among them. In mid-March 2014, SBU began arrests of DPM leaders. Since early April, 2014, the militant group has seized control of several government buildings in Eastern Ukraine such as in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. There's currently an Easter truce. The DPM is one of several pro-Russian groups in the area (others are: Donetsk Republic [organization], Army of the South-East, Lugansk Guard, Denikin Volunteer Brigade of Lugansk, Antifascist Movement [composed of Borotba, Ukrainian Choice, Antifascist Committee of Ukraine and Russophone Ukraine])."
Sources: Wikipedia: Donbass People´s Militia and Pro-Russian Unrest in Ukraine.
Esteban Rivera, 20 April 2014

## Mountaineering Federation of the Donetsk People's Republic

image by Ivan Sache
These mountain climbers are members of the Mountaineering Federation of the Donetsk People's Republic, whose flag is white with the federation's logo.
Photos:
http://www.dsnews.ua/politics/top-5-propagandistskih-mifov-feykov-i-glupostey-kremlya-20062015101100
http://минспорт.рус/news/v-zuevke-proshel-chempionat-dnr-po-tehnike-alpinizma
http://минспорт.рус/news/sorevnovaniya-po-tehnike-alpinizma-dali-start-novomu-alpinistskomu-sezonu-v-dnr

Ivan Sache, 11 January 2019

## Ministry of Emergency Situations

image located by William Garrison

Caption: "Flags of Russia and Russian Emergencies Ministry fly during an opening ceremony of the DPR Emergencies Ministry's centre, built by specialists from the military construction complex of Russian Defence Ministry, in Mariupol, Donetsk People's Republic, Russia." (Event date: 11-11-2022, source)
located by William Garrison, 21 June 2023

This flag belongs to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, but not of the Russian Federation but of that of the Donetsk People's Republic (source). The laws regarding the flag of this ministry can be seen here and are PDF files.
Zachary Harden, 21 June 2023