The other day, I read interesting material about Eastern Ukraine. russia likes to repeat that Eastern Ukraine belongs to it. Here are some short facts about why russia lies (as usual).
There will be a thread.
The land of Cossacks
The Cossacks explored and settled the Donetsk coal basin during the 17th and 18th centuries. They built settlements, mined salt, and established new villages and towns.
However, the russian empire viewed the Cossacks as a threat because they spread protest ideas that did not align with the imperial goal of suppressing free thought. Despite the fact that the Cossacks helped win the war against the Ottoman Empire, Catherine II decided to eradicate them.
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Who made this region an industrial giant?
In the late 19th century, Europeans invested heavily in Donbas’s coal and metallurgical deposits. One of the most well-known investors was British citizen John Hughes, who established a steel plant on the former Cossack Oleksandrivska Sloboda site. He also began coal mining and successfully set industrial records within the empire. Over time, a whole village emerged around the plant, which eventually became known as Donetsk.
The region attracted businesses from Belgium, Scotland, Germany, France, and Britain. Foreign entrepreneurs established mainly metallurgical plants but also salt and coal mining, soda production, and more.
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The elite of Eastern Ukraine
Oleksiy Alchevsky, a renowned banker, industrialist, and passionate Ukrainian, founded several metallurgical enterprises in Ukraine that relied on domestic investments.
Despite the russian empire's anti-Ukrainian policy, Oleksiy's wife, Khrystyna, opened a school in the village of Oleksiivka in 1879. She taught writing, literature, and the history of Ukraine in her native language with the aim of providing education, knowledge, and skills to ordinary women.
The Alchevsky children upheld their parents' legacy of preserving Ukrainian culture, language, and history.
Now, there is the city of Alchevsk in Luhansk Oblast.
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