Russian Orthodox Army

The Donbas or Donbass is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. Parts of the Donbas are occupied by Russia as a result of the Russo-Ukrainian War.

The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. The rise of the Russian Empire coincided with the decline of neighbouring rival powers: the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Qajar Iran, the Ottoman Empire, and Qing China. It also held colonies in North America between 1799 and 1867. Covering an area of approximately 22,800,000 square kilometres (8,800,000 sq mi), it remains the third-largest empire in history, surpassed only by the British Empire and the Mongol Empire; it ruled over a population of 125.6 million people per the 1897 Russian census, the only census carried out during the entire imperial period. Owing to its geographic extent across three continents at its peak, it featured great ethnic, linguistic, religious, and economic diversity.

Russian National Unity or All-Russian civic patriotic movement "Russian National Unity" was an unregistered neo-Nazi, irredentist group based in Russia and formerly operating in states with Russian-speaking populations. It was founded by the ultra-nationalist Alexander Barkashov. The movement advocated the expulsion of non-Russians and an increased role for traditional Russian institutions such as the Russian Orthodox Church. The organization was unregistered federally in Russia, but nonetheless collaborated on a limited basis with the Federal Security Service. The group was banned in Moscow in 1999 after which the group gradually split up in smaller groups and their webpage became defunct in 2006.

Pavel Yuryevich Gubarev is a Russian political figure and soldier who proclaimed himself the "People's Governor" of the Donetsk Region at the Regional Assembly on 3 March 2014, after separatists seized the building. Gubarev had earlier declared himself leader of the Donbas People's Militia. Since then, he has been sidelined by other separatist leaders and was banned from taking part in the 2014 Donbas parliamentary elections. These elections also eliminated the post of "People's Governor". Gubarev was not a figure in local politics prior to the beginning of the 2014 pro-Russian conflict in Ukraine.

The New Russia Party, or Novorossiya Party, is a political party operating in Ukraine, and in particular regions of Ukraine annexed by Russia The organization was founded by pro-Russian separatists, under the leadership of Pavel Gubarev, on 14 May 2014. The party is formally known as the Social-Political Movement "New Russia Party". It is not registered with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.

Donetsk, formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka, Stalin and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast. The population was estimated at 901,645 in the city core, with over 2 million in the metropolitan area (2011). According to the 2001 census, Donetsk was the fifth-largest city in Ukraine.

Marlène Laruelle is a French historian, sociologist, and political scientist specializing on Eurasia and Europe. She is Research Professor and Director of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at the George Washington University (GW). Laruelle is also a Co-Director of PONARS, Director of GW’s Central Asia Program, and Director of GW's Illiberalism Studies Program. She received her Ph.D. in history at the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Cultures (INALCO) and spent time as a post-doc in the area of political science at Sciences Po in Paris. She is Senior Associate Scholar at the Institut français des relations internationales (IFRI). Her particular focus of interest is post-Soviet political, social and cultural developments, especially ideologies and nationalism.

Amvrosiivka Raion was a raion (district) within the eastern part of Donetsk Oblast in Eastern Ukraine. The raion was abolished on 18 July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Donetsk Oblast to eight. However, since 2014 the raion was not under control of Ukrainian government and has been part of the Donetsk People's Republic which continues using it as an administrative unit. The administrative center of the raion is the town of Amvrosiivka. The last estimate of the raion population, reported by the Ukrainian government, was 43,759 .

The Security Service of Ukraine or SBU is the law enforcement authority and main intelligence and security agency of the Ukrainian government, in the areas of counter-intelligence activity and combating organized crime and terrorism. The Constitution of Ukraine defines the SBU as a military formation, and its staff are considered military personnel with ranks. It is subordinated directly under the authority of the president of Ukraine. The SBU also operates its own special forces unit, the Alpha Group.

Donetsk, formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka, Stalin and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast. The population was estimated at 901,645 in the city core, with over 2 million in the metropolitan area (2011). According to the 2001 census, Donetsk was the fifth-largest city in Ukraine.

Igor Vsevolodovich Girkin, also known by the alias Igor Ivanovich Strelkov, is a Russian army veteran and former Federal Security Service (FSB) officer who played a key role in the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, and later the war in Donbas as an organizer of militant groups in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR).

The Donetsk People's Republic is an unrecognised republic of Russia in the occupied parts of eastern Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast, with its capital in Donetsk. The DPR was created by militarily-armed Russian-backed separatists in 2014, and it initially operated as a breakaway state until it was annexed by Russia in 2022.

In Sloviansk, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, four members of the Transfiguration of The Lord Pentecostal church were captured and killed in June 2014, allegedly by members of the Russian Orthodox Army. The reason for the killings is disputed. Although Ukrainian officials believe that the victims were killed for sending supplies and information to the Ukrainian army, church officials believe that it was an act of religious persecution.

Protestants in Ukraine number about 600,000 to 700,000 (2007), about 2% of the total population. Nearly all traditional Protestant denominations are represented in the country. According to Christianity Today magazine, Ukraine has become not just the "Bible Belt" of Eastern Europe, but a "hub of evangelical church life, education, and missions". At present, the country is a key supplier of missionaries and a center of evangelical training and press printing for all the countries of the former Soviet Union, where the legal environment is not so favourable.

The Catholic Church in Ukraine is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic particular church that is in full communion with the Holy See and the rest of the Catholic Church. It is the second-largest particular church in the Catholic Church, second only to the Latin Church. As a major archiepiscopal church, it is governed by a Major Archbishop; the incumbent is Sviatoslav Shevchuk.

The Ministry of Defence of Ukraine is the ministry of the Ukrainian government that oversees national defence and the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The head of the ministry is the Minister of Defence. The President of Ukraine is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.