Donetsk [key], city, capital of Donetsk region, E Ukraine, on the Kalmius River. The largest industrial center of the Donets Basin and one of the largest in Ukraine, it has coal mines, coking plants, iron and steel mills, machinery works, and chemical plants. Due to underground tunneling, the city has had problems with land subsidence. The city was founded in 1870 as Yuzovka, named after the Welsh industrialist, John Hughes, who built a factory and many buildings there. From 1924 to 1961 it was called Stalino. In 2014 and 2015 the city and its region became the most prominent center of the pro-Russian uprising against the Ukrainian government, and some of the most persistent fighting was located around the city.
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