Donetsk People's Republic - Донецкая Народная Республика / Донецька Народна Республіка

The Donetsk People's Republic (DPR or DNR; Russian: Донецкая Народная Республика, tr. Donetskaya Narodnaya Respublika, , Ukrainian: Донецька Народна Республіка, romanized: Donets'ka Narodna Respublika) is a Russian-backed proto-state in the eastern Ukrainian Oblast of Donetsk. The proto-state is recognised only by the partially recognised South Ossetia and Russian-backed proto-state Luhansk People's Republic (LPR). The capital city and largest city within the DPR is Donetsk. The current head of state is Denis Pushilin.

The DPR declared its Independence after the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, alongside the LPR and the Republic of Crimea. An ongoing armed conflict between Ukraine and the DPR and LPR followed their declarations of independence. The LPR and DPR receive humanitarian assistance from Russia. According to NATO and Ukraine, Russia had also provided military aid to the rebels, a claim that Russia denies. Ukraine claims that both the DPR and LPR are terrorist organizations, although this designation is not supported by the Supreme Court of Ukraine or by international governments including the EU, US, or Russia. The February 2015 Minsk agreement signed by the DPR, LDR and Ukraine was meant to stop the conflict and reintegrate rebel held territory into Ukraine in exchange for more autonomy for the area, but the agreement was never fully implemented.

Since February 2017, Russia has been recognising identity documents, diplomas, birth and marriage certificates, and vehicle registration plates which have been issued by the DPR, and has said that it will continue to do so until a "political settlement of the situation" in separatist-controlled regions, based on the Minsk II agreement, is reached. NATO, Ukrainian and Western military experts have claimed that regular Russian units have been aiding the DPR and LPR, who have modern Russian tanks and artillery. Russia denies this, but has stated that Russian volunteers are helping the DPR and LPR. Along with the Luhansk People's Republic and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the Donetsk People's Republic is considered by Ukraine one of three temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine as a result of Russian military intervention. 

All UN member states consider the Republic a legal part of Ukraine. Only South Ossetia, which is also a state with limited recognition internationally recognised as part of Georgia, has recognised the Donetsk People's Republic as a sovereign entity after it declared independence from Ukraine in 2014 with Donetsk as its declared capital. The parliaments of both entities signed a memorandum on cooperation on 10 April 2016. Although exercising no direct control over the territory of the Donetsk People's Republic, the Ukrainian government passed the "Law on the special status of Donbass  on 16 September 2014, which granted part of Donbass (territory of the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic) the special status within Ukraine. 

Post of Donbass (Почта Донбасса) is a state-owned enterprise being the operator of the postal system of self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic. The state-owned company was created on December 9, 2014in Donetsk by an edict of the DPR Head Alexander Zakharchenko on the basis of the Ukrainian state company Ukrposhta — on that date the first five post offices commenced operations. Сreation of the structure was necessitated by termination of Ukrposhta operations in the areas of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts of Ukraine not controlled by Kiev. The DPR Ministry of Communications oversees the Post of Donbass operations. The CEO of the state-owned enterprise is Yevgeny Kovnatsky. After establishing on March 23, 2015 of mail service between self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic, the Post of Donbass united postal services of both DPR and LPR. Preparations for issue of own stamps were underway since March 2015, and by May 9 the first such stamp was issued in DPR and LPR[К 1] depicting "DPR soldiers Arseny Pavlov and Mikhail Tolstykh better known by the population as "Givi" and "Motorola"." 

The Post of Donbass issued a series of seven definitive stamps in 2015 depicting coats of arms of DPR's cities and towns. The last, seventh, stamp appeared on December 17, 2015. The 24-ruble stamp depicted smaller coat of arms of the Donetsk People's Republic's capital, Donetsk. The preceding stamps of the series presented coats of arms of Gorlovka, Shakhtersk, Dokuchaevsk, Debaltsevo, Yenakievo and Ilovaysk. A special cancellation was held on the occasion of the issue of each stamp in the corresponding town.