During this period, the various companies and successors won worldwide acclaim for the iron cladding of wooden warships for the British Admiralty, for which Hughes was given much of the credit.

In 1868, the Millwall Iron Works Company received an order from the Imperial Russian Government for the plating of a naval fortress being built at Kronstadt on the Baltic Sea.

He sailed with eight ships, with not only all the equipment necessary to establish a metal works, but also much of the skilled labour; a group of about a hundred ironworkers and miners mostly from South Wales.

During the 1870s, collieries and iron ore mines were sunk, and brickworks and other facilities were established to make the isolated works a self-sufficient industrial complex.

The land around the metalworks quickly grew to become an industrial and cultural centre in the region; the population of the city founded by Hughes now exceeds one million.

Over the years, although a Russian workforce was trained by the company, skilled workers from the United Kingdom continued to be employed, and many technical, engineering and managerial positions were filled by British immigrants; who were overwhelmingly Welsh.

A thriving expatriate community was established, living in good quality company housing, and provided with an English school and an Anglican church.

[7] In March 2014, following the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, a humorous campaign advocated that Donetsk join the United Kingdom because of the city's connection to Hughes.

In 2014, an instrumental song on the Welsh band Manic Street Preachers' album Futurology paid homage to John Hughes, referring to Donetsk by its former name.