| Conventional Long Name: | Donetsk–Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic |
| Native Name: | Донецко-Криворожская советская республика |
| Common Name: | Donetsk–Krivoy Rog Republic |
| Status: | unrecognized, self-declared entity[1] [2] |
| Empire: | Russian SFSR |
| Era: | World War I |
| Life Span: | 1918 |
| Date Start: | 12 February |
| Year Start: | 1918 |
| Event End: | Incorporated into the Ukrainian Soviet Republic |
| Date End: | 20 March[3] |
| Year End: | 1918 |
| P1: | Russian SFSR |
| Flag P1: | Flag RSFSR 1918.svg |
| P2: | Ukrainian People's Republic |
| Flag P2: | Flag_of_Ukraine_(1917–1921).svg |
| S1: | Ukrainian Soviet Republic |
| Flag S1: | Socialist red flag.svg |
| Flag Type: | A red flag |
| Capital: | Kharkiv, later Luhansk |
| Image Map Caption: | Map of the territory claimed by the Donetsk–Krivoy Rog Republic in March 1918 (in green) |
| Government Type: | Soviet socialist republic |
| Title Leader: | Chairman of the Sovnarkom |
| Leader1: | Fyodor Sergeyev |
| Year Leader1: | 1918 |
| Legislature: | Soviet |
| Currency: | Ruble |
| Today: | Ukraine Russia |
The Donetsk–Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic or Donetsk–Kryvyi Rih Soviet Republic (Russian: Донецко-Криворожская советская республика | translit = Donetsko-Krivorozhskaya sovyetskaya respublika;) was a self-declared Soviet republic of the Russian SFSR proclaimed on 12 February 1918. It was founded three days after the government of the Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR) signed its Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Central Powers, which recognised the borders of the UPR. Lenin did not support the creation of the entity and neither did Sverdlov.[4] Some other Bolsheviks like Elena Stasova, however, sent a telegraph of best wishes.
The Donetsk–Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic claimed the territories south of the neighbouring Ukrainian People's Republic, including the Donbass, Kharkov, Yekaterinoslav, and part of the Kherson Governorates. In the beginning, the republic's capital was the city of Kharkiv, but later with the retreat of the Red Guard it moved to Luhansk. The newly created government challenged the authority of the General Secretariat of Ukraine and the People's Secretariat. Some of the commissars held positions as secretaries in another Bolshevik government in Ukraine, the People's Secretariat.
The Donetsk–Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic was disbanded at the second All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets on 20 March 1918 when the independence of Soviet Ukraine was announced. The Donetsk–Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic failed to achieve recognition, either internationally or by the Russian SFSR, and in accordance with the March 1918 second Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was abolished.
The Donetsk–Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic was invoked during the war in Donbas (started 2014), when the legislature of the unrecognised separatist Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) adopted a memorandum on 5 February 2015 declaring itself the successor to the Donetsk–Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic, and Artyom as founding father.[5]
After a government crisis and resignation of Vasilchenko, Zhakov and Filov on 29 March 1918, the Sovnarkom relocated from Kharkiv to Luhansk.