Donetsk Regional Local History Museum is one of the oldest and largest museums in Ukraine. During the Russian-Ukraine war, pro-Russian militants repeatedly shelled the building. In August 2014, the museum suffered significant damage as a result of shelling by pro-Russian militants. Due to the fighting in the Donetsk region, almost all the museum's funds ended up in the territory temporarily occupied by Russian forces. The number of missing artifacts is unknown. As a consequence, the museum itself was evacuated to the Western part of Ukraine. Today, one of the priority tasks of the museum is to continue studying and presenting the interesting history of the region, complex ethnic processes related to the formation of the modern population in the Donetsk region, or its culture and traditions.