Following the loss of Ukrainian government control over Donetsk in 2014 during the war in Donbass, the University was evacuated to Pokrovsk.

[3][4] A small group of collaborationists among the faculty have claimed to continue to operate as the Donetsk National Technical University in the campus in Russian-occupied Donetsk, as a project aimed to legitimize the so-called Donetsk People's Republic,[5][6] however diplomas they issued weren't recognized even in Russia itself and local students were officially enrolled as correspondent students at minor provincial Russian universities.

There are 28 correspondent members and academicians of the engineering academies, 18 honorary researchers and professors among the academics of the university.

From 1987—1996, the university had a group known as the DPI team [ru] participating in the popular comedic game-show KVN.

It contained a number of figures, made up of students who were studying at the university and would later become prominent within Ukrainian society, including Ismail Abdullaiev and Serhii Syvokho [uk].