The DPR and LPR: How the Separatist Entities Were Created
The Donetsk and Luhansk “people's republics” did not emerge as ordinary regional governments that later chose separation. They began with occupied buildings, improvised declarations, armed groups, and disputed votes, then hardened into administrations through a mixture of local participation and decisive Russian support.
From Occupations to Declarations
On April 6, 2014, protesters seized the Donetsk regional administration. The next day, people meeting inside declared a “Donetsk People's Republic,” claimed authority across the entire region, and called for a referendum, although elected local institutions had not transferred power to them.
In Luhansk, armed occupiers took the regional Security Service headquarters on April 6 and gained access to weapons. A “Luhansk People's Republic” was proclaimed on April 27 as separatist checkpoints and building seizures spread.
Control was uneven. The new entities claimed whole regions, but Ukraine retained many cities and districts; even inside separatist-held areas, commanders, activists, Cossack formations, criminal networks, and local officials did not initially answer to one hierarchy.
The May 11 “Referendums”
Separatist authorities held votes on May 11 asking whether residents supported the “state self-rule” of the DPR or LPR. The wording did not clearly specify independence, union with Russia, or a federal place inside Ukraine.
There were no reliable electoral registers, impartial administration, or recognized international observers. Voting occurred only in selected locations under armed control, making reported turnout and overwhelming yes results impossible to verify.
Ukraine rejected the votes as illegal and continued with its nationwide presidential election two weeks later. Russia did not formally annex Donetsk or Luhansk, but said it respected the referendum results and called for negotiations.
Local Separatism and Russian Leadership
Some residents genuinely wanted separation or closer ties to Russia, and thousands later fought for the entities. Former Party of Regions networks, local business interests, Soviet identity, anger at Kyiv, and fear stirred by Russian media all contributed.
Russian citizens nevertheless occupied crucial early posts. Alexander Borodai, a political consultant from Moscow, became DPR “prime minister,” while Igor Girkin, a former Russian security officer who had taken Sloviansk with an armed unit, became its military commander and “defence minister.”
Other Russian operatives, nationalists, veterans, and Cossacks crossed the border as organizers or fighters. Their presence did not erase Ukrainian participation, but it made the leadership far less local than the name “people's republic” suggested.
The Support That Made Territorial Control Possible
Separatist groups obtained some weapons from captured Ukrainian police, security, and military stores. As the fighting grew, larger flows of fighters, ammunition, heavy weapons, training, financing, and intelligence came from Russia across border sections Ukraine no longer controlled.
Moscow denied directing the entities and described Russian fighters as volunteers. The evidence later assessed by the European Court of Human Rights showed extensive contact with Russian officials, Russian command figures in armed groups, and military, political, and economic dependence.
The Court concluded that by the May 11 votes, the separatist operation as a whole was being managed and coordinated by Russia. It found that Moscow's approval helped allocate leadership posts and bring previously separate formations into a more coherent administration and command structure.
From Political Crisis to Organized War
The DPR and LPR created ministries, security services, armed units, media, and systems of detention while claiming powers that belonged to the Ukrainian state. Their competing commanders did not become orderly overnight, but the entities gave separate seizures a common banner and territory to defend.
Russia's role and local agency therefore are not mutually exclusive explanations. Local grievances and recruits mattered; without sustained Russian personnel and material support, the entities would have had far less ability to withstand Ukraine's military response.
The place where that transformation became unmistakable was not a regional capital. In Sloviansk, an armed group led by Girkin seized a city and triggered the opening battles of the Donbas war.
The Russian Spring and the Spread of Unrest in Eastern Ukraine
Sloviansk and the Beginning of the Donbas War