From the beginning Process_start of March 2014 , protests by pro-Russian and anti-government groups took place Process_start in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine , commonly collectively called Name_conferral the `` Donbass '' , in the aftermath of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution Change_of_leadership and the Euromaidan movement .

These demonstrations , which followed the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation ( February to March 2014 ) , and which were part of a wider group of concurrent pro-Russian protests across southern and eastern Ukraine , escalated Cause_change_of_position_on_a_scale into an armed conflict Hostile_encounter between the separatist forces of the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People 's Republics ( DPR and LPR respectively ) , and the Ukrainian government .

These protests escalated Cause_change_of_position_on_a_scale into the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation , War in Donbass , Russian military intervention , and the establishment of de facto independent states in Donetsk and Luhansk .

Protests Protest in Donetsk and Luhansk regions ( oblasts ) escalated Cause_change_of_position_on_a_scale into an armed pro-Russian separatist insurgency .