On 30 September 2013, the commemorative coins "Liberation of Donbas from the Fascist Invaders" of 10 and 5 hryvnia face values were put into circulation. The commemorative coins are dedicated to the 70-th anniversary of liberation of Donbas from the fascist invaders.

"The National Bank of Ukraine has great respect for historical events that will live in the memory of the Ukrainian nation for ever," said Ms Tamara Loshmanova, Head of Office for Numismatic Products and Marketing.

She has said that the issuance of the coins devoted to liberation of Ukrainian lands from the fascist invaders is one of the ways to honor the memory of heroes, preserve historical memory of the nation and teach the lessons of courage and patriotism.

The coin “Liberation of Donbas from the Fascist Invaders”  of 10 hryvnia face value is made of silver, quality – “proof”. The total mintage figure for this coin is 3, 000 pieces. The coin edge is smooth with incised legends.

The coin “Liberation of Donbas from the Fascist Invaders”  of 5 hryvnia face value is made of German silver, quality – “special uncirculated”.  The total mintage figure for this coin is 30, 000 pieces. The coin edge is grooved.

Designers: Volodymyr Atamanchuk, Sviatoslav Ivanenko, and Svitlana Dudenko.

Engravers: Volodymyr Atamanchuk, Roman Chaikovskyi, Sviatoslav Ivanenko.

Information on prices for commemorative coins and location of the sales offices is available on the NBU's official website.

For reference:

The operation to liberate the Donbas region was carried out by the Red Army troops in several phases. The Donbas offensive operation began on 13 August 1943 when the right flank of the Southwestern Front troops in cooperation with the Southern Fronts, which had liberated Kharkiv, launched an offensive.

The Soviet 2nd and 5th Guards Armies inflicted heavy losses on the German divisions. Chasing the enemy forces, the Southwestern Front troops managed to throw them back across the Dnipro river to the region of Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhya. On the same day, the Southern Front troops reached the Molochna River. The Donbas offensive operation ended in a sweeping victory by the Red Army. On 15 September 1943, the rally marking liberation of Donbas took place in the town of Stalino.