In 1922 it was made part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, part of the Soviet Union. The area, which has a majority ethnic Russian population today, is currently caught in a standoff ...

It also backed separatists that seized territory in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions and subsequently declared them pro-Russian republics. Those areas are now under Russian control.

Russia and Ukraine were part of the 15 Soviet republics that made up the Soviet Union. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine declared independence on August 24. The map below ...