[3] The district was created in February 1923 as part of Donets Governorate of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

[5] During World War II, the raion was occupied by Nazi Germany between October 1941 and September 1943, who committed atrocities against the local population.

[6] In 2014, during the war in Donbas, small eastern parts of Marinka Raion were taken over by the self-styled Donetsk People's Republic, a Russian-backed breakaway state claiming the territory of all of Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast.

[4] To facilitate administration, both the Ukrainian government and the authorities of the Donetsk People's Republic transferred this area to other administrative units, so that the amended area of the raion remained under control of the government.

According to the 2001 census, the self-reported ethnic background of the people of the raion was:[9][4] In terms of religion, most of the population of the raion were followers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), but there was also a Protestant community.