NARRATIVE – The mines and factories of Donbass were the industrial heart of the Soviet Union and then of Ukraine, before experiencing a long decline precipitated by the horrors of war.
“Before the war, we often heard the refrain that Donbass fed Ukraine. It was by far the richest, most developed region of the country., recalls Denys Gorbach, Ukrainian political scientist at Sciences Po Paris and Toulouse. The Donbass, made up of two regions, Donetsk Oblast and Luhansk Oblast, produced nearly 20% of Ukraine’s national wealth until the early 2010s.
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The territory bordering Russia is now the scene of a massive offensive by the Russian Army, particularly since Moscow redirected its “special military operation” launched on February 24 in early April. The new battle of Donbass is part of the conflict which, since 2014, has pitted pro-Russian separatists in the east against populations loyal to kyiv in the west. So many tragic events that caused the collapse of the most powerful industrial basin of the USSR and then of independent Ukraine.
Its development dates back to the end of the 19th century when the exploitation of its rich subsoil began thanks to Western capital. At the time, the province belonged to the Russian Empire. “The development of Donbass was made possible by the conjunction of three factors: coal mines, iron mines and its geographical location with access to the Sea of Azov via Mariupol and access to land via the Don River”analyzes the historian Martin Motte, director of studies at the Practical School of Advanced Studies and member of the Institute of Comparative Strategy.
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Stakhanov’s stronghold
Annexed to the USSR like the rest of Ukraine, the mineral resources and factories of the Donbass aroused the interest of Stalin, who was launched into a forced industrial catch-up with the West. Its main city, Donetsk, was then called Stalino. Workers flocked from all over the Soviet Union and particularly from Russia to work in the steel industry or extract coal. Totalitarian propaganda praises the productivity of the miner Stakhanov installed in the Donbass. The posters of the Soviet authorities present the region as the industrial heart of the USSR, which it irrigates with its production.
After the bloody occupation of the Wehrmacht during World War II who coveted its resources and its strategic location on the Caucasus route, the Donbass is being rebuilt and hosts sophisticated industries, in addition to mining and steel, such as the manufacture of armaments, machine tools or transport equipment.
But the industrial bastion plunged into chaos when the Soviet Empire collapsed in 1991 and was attached to independent Ukraine. The region is suddenly changing its economic universe. Not smoothly. “The exit from the interventionist economy of the USSR and the transition to a market economy exposed the economic shortcomings of the Donbass, open to international competition”notes Martin Motte.
The end of the USSR, the beginning of the decline
At the beginning of the 1990s, the industrial production coming out of the dilapidated factories of the Donbass was no longer competitive on the international markets. Its historical outlet, the Russian market, has also dried up, Russia itself being mired in a deep economic crisis. Subject to the cold realities of supply and demand, some factories are closing their doors. The beginning of a long decline. “It was a huge economic crisis at the end of the Cold War. Worse than in other regions of the USSR»remembers Denys Gorbach who speaks of the 1990s as“a period of fog”.
Like their Russian counterparts, Ukrainian oligarchs appropriate whole sections of the economy against a backdrop of collusion between corrupt politicians and mafia businessmen. Strikes are increasing in a context of recession and political protest, while the region and the many Russian speakers who live there are demanding more autonomy in kyiv and a federal organization of the country.
In the 2000s, the Ukrainian central state relaunched activity in the region with generous subsidies to the Donbass and large public orders for its industry in order to“avoid a social explosion in this large pool of jobs”, recalls political scientist Denys Gorbach. The latter underlines the key role played in this policy of support for Donbass by Victor Yanukovych, former governor of Donetsk Oblast, Prime Minister then President of Ukraine, belonging to the “pro-Russian” party.
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An economy undermined by war since 2014
The high price of raw materials and metals in the 2000s helped the region return to growth without ever returning to its Soviet-era activity. Its growth slowed in the early 2010s before collapsing when the armed conflict broke out between kyiv and the pro-Russian separatists in Donbass in 2014. Some factories found themselves trapped in the occupation by the separatists. Other industrial complexes are under bombardment. The climate of war causes more than 1.5 million displaced people to flee to western Ukraine and abroad between 2014 and 2021. “There has been a massive exodus of young people, of the most qualified. The Donbass industry was very impoverished by the 2014 war»laments Denys Gorbach.
The invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army since February 24, and the recent offensive on the Donbass, have multiplied the evils that have hit its economy since 2014. The exodus of the living forces of the population continues and is accelerated. The extent of the destruction is quite different from that observed so far, mainly near the front line between separatists and Ukrainian soldiers. Fights now take place in industrial sites. In Mariupol, a strategic city on the Sea of Azov taken by the Russians, artillery pounded the port facilities and the huge Azovstal metallurgy and steelworks where the last Ukrainian soldiers were barricaded.
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Vladimir Putin surely aims to take possession of the Donbass, but it would be for geopolitical reasons more than economic ones. Because, if he succeeds, he will get his hands on a field of ruin.
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