Donetsk is the fifth-largest city in Ukraine. With a population of over 1,120,000. While the majority of people in central and western Ukraine speak Ukrainian, most residents of Donetsk are Russian-speaking Ukrainians (Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group primarily living in Ukraine) According to 2001 population census, Ukrainians make up 56,9% of Donetsk area and Russians 38,2%.
Donetsk's residents belong to many different religious bodies: Eastern Orthodox, Greek Catholic, Protestant, and Roman Catholic as well as Islam Mosques and Judaic synagogues The largest religious body with the most members is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)
The city was founded in 1869 by a Welsh businessman, John Hughes who constructed a steel plant and several coal mines. The city's steel industry was expanded and since 1924 it was renamed Stalino after Joseph Stalin. Joseph Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953...Today, the city still remains an important industrial centre for coal and steel in Ukraine.
In the beginning of World War II The territory of Donetsk at the time of the Nazi German
Mostly consisted of a Jewish ghetto. Donetsk consisted of 507,000, and after the war - only 175,000 remained. World War II almost completely destroyed the city, which was mostly rebuilt on a larger scale at the war's end.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, Donetsk and other neighboring cities suffered heavily, as many factories were closed down and many inhabitants lost their jobs. However, in spite of the difficult economic situation in Ukraine Economy of Ukraine is a developing city.
