This coin from the Lugansk region (also known as Luhansk) commemorates
the 50th anniversary of the creation of the greater Donbass region (or
Donbasskiy Kray). The Donbass region combines three oblasts (provinces
or regions) in the east of Ukraine: easternmost part of the
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, northern and central part of Donetsk Oblast and
southern part of Lugansk Oblast.
Donbass is economically, historically and culturally
regarded as a supranational region, as it also consists of a part of
neighbouring Rostov Oblast in Russia, although this conceptual
extension of the region to include the Russian section of it has been
somehow abandoned after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Many inhabitants of Donbass have a strong attachment to
the region and see themselves first and foremost as Donbassers.