The 1st Donetsk Corps was a military formation of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine, it was created on 1 September 1919 and existed until 1920.

They also discussed the issue of reorganizing the rebel regiments into a single army that would be effective in guerrilla warfare.

Belash developed the structure of the RIAU, which consisted of four corps (three active and one reserve), each built from a number of divisions, which were in turn divided into regiments, battalions, companies and platoons.

The left column, consisting of infantry regiments of the 1st corps, moved 320 miles along the route from Novoarkhanhelsk, to Elisavetgrad, Adjamka [ru] and Kamenka, before they arrived at Yekaterinoslav.

As a result, Kalashnikov's column occupied Krivoy Rog (this was part of the task of the 2nd corps), and his attack on Yekaterinoslav did not take place.