It set the goal of creating the "Donetsk Federal Republic", and began to openly collect signatures for holding a referendum.

[4] Despite a ban, the organization did not stop its illegal activities, conducting jointly with the Communist Party of Ukraine and other pro-Russian movements separatist actions.

The participants of the rally expressed distrust of the head of the Donetsk regional state administration Andrei Shishatsky and announced the commander of the People's Defence of Donbass Pavel Gubarev as their leader.

[14][15][16] At about 12:00, supporters of Pavel Gubarev were joined by activists of the separatist organization "Donetsk Republic", who, under anti-Ukrainian slogans, demanded the voluntary resignation of Andrei Shishatsky, and then moved to storm the building of the regional state administration.

[17][18] In the evening, the Donetsk City Council, fearing the pressure of pro-Russian forces, convened an extraordinary session, which unanimously decided to hold a referendum on the region remaining a part of Ukraine.

[20] About 1,000[21] people with Russian tricolors (led by self-proclaimed Governor Pavel Gubarev) stormed the session hall of the regional council, causing a clash.

Pavel Gubarev addressed the audience; in his speech, he called himself the "people's governor" and ordered information of representatives of the Russian media that the regional state administration in his person did not accept the central government in Kyiv.

As a result of clashes with the police, the supporters of the referendum once again occupied the RSA (Regional State Administration) building and hung the Russian flag over it.

At the same time, another group of about 1,500 pro-Russian activists moved towards Freedom Square, where they got into a fight with rallying supporters of Ukraine.

In the evening of this day, about 200 supporters of Gubarev picketed the building of the Main Directorate of the SBU in the Donetsk region, demanding the release of their leader.

Law enforcement officers and self-defense tried to protect the participants of the action, which allowed most of them to leave Lenin Square.

After the retreat of the main group of supporters of the integrity of Ukraine, police officers hid members of self-defense in their bus.

[36] On April 11, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the Prime Minister of Ukraine, visited Donetsk and offered to grant the east of the country greater autonomy.

[39] On April 16, separatists, some armed with machine guns, seized the city hall building at 98 Artema street.

[42][43] One of the leaders of the group, Yevhen Zhylin, described the events surrounding the capture of the city hall:[44] Everyone hoped that it would be like in Crimea.

And we seized the city administration building and defended it so that no one would rob it.At 18:00 on April 17, a pro-Ukrainian rally took place in Victory park with around 5,000 in attendance at its peak.

During the rally, multiple men dressed in military fatigues and wielding baseball bats entered the crowd and began to attack protesters, who responded by lighting fireworks and firecrackers.

[48] During May Day celebrations on May 1, a few thousand festivalgoers gathered in Lenin square before marching south along Artema street towards a registration office on Polehlykh Komunariv avenue, where they raised the flag of the DPR with no resistance.

[54] The referendum designed to legitimize the DPR was held on May 11, 2014, and its result, according to the announcement of the initiators, was that 89.07 percent of voters voted for the proclamation of the Donetsk People's Republic.

[55] The official report on the human rights situation in Ukraine by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights states that on May 15, the UOC-KP condemned violence and threats to the life and health of the clergy and believers of eastern Ukraine by armed groups, and also states that numerous attacks on an interreligious prayer marathon (participated in by all major denominations except for the Moscow Patriarchate) are taking place in Donetsk, including severe beatings of participants, destruction of property and threats.

According to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the raid was widely seen as a part of an attempt by a Moscow-connected faction to take control over the insurgency in the Donbas from "ragtag" elements associated with Igor Girkin and Alexander Borodai, with Mark Galeotti characterizing the battalion as a "more disciplined" force associated with Russian military intelligence.

On November 26, militants seized the buildings of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the regional employment center and the Pension Fund.