Alexander Zakharchenko

Alexander Vladimirovich Zakharchenko (26 June 1976 – 31 August 2018) was a pro-Russian separatist leader who was the Russia-installed head of state and prime minister of the Donetsk People's Republic, a self-proclaimed state and Russian-backed rebel group which declared independence from Ukraine on 11 May 2014.

Zakharchenko was killed in August 2018 when a bomb exploded in a café that he frequently visited in Donetsk.

Zakharchenko graduated from technical college. He then worked as a mine electrician before opening a business in the mining industry. He studied with the law institute of the Interior Ministry.

In December 2013, Zakharchenko became head of the Donetsk branch of OPLOT, a pro-Russian militant organization established in Kharkiv by Yevgeny Zhilin. On 16 April 2014, in the chaotic aftermath of Euromaidan, 20 members of Oplot (including Zakharchenko), armed with clubs, rifles and some automatic weapons, occupied the offices of Donetsk City Council, demanding a referendum on the status of the region. By late April 2014, Zakharchenko was the commander of OPLOT.

From May 2014, Zakharchenko was playing a leading role in the insurgency against Ukraine's central government, with leaked emails showing Russia's role in his rise. On 22 July 2014, he was wounded in the arm during a fight against Ukrainian government forces at Kozhevnia. In late August 2014, the DPR Ministry of Defence announced Zakharchenko's promotion to major general.

Zakharchenko succeeded Alexander Borodai as DPR prime minister on 7 August 2014, with Borodai becoming Deputy Prime Minister. Borodai later stated that Donbas native Zakharchenko had been installed over him as part of Russian government effort 'to try to show the West that the uprising was a grassroots phenomenon', claiming that he had personally recommended Zakharchenko for the post of prime minister. In September 2014, Zakharchenko was the lead negotiator for the DPR at the Minsk Protocol, which agreed to a peace plan for the war in Donbas.

During the 2014 Donetsk parliamentary elections, Zakharchenko won the prime ministership with 78.93% of the vote. The day after the elections, the head of Oplot organization Evgeniy Zhylin gave an interview to the Russian television channel TV Rain where he told how Zakharchenko was appointed as a head of Donetsk branch of Oplot and how his candidacy as a leader of the DPR was promoted from Moscow. In January 2015, by Donetsk Airport, Zakharchenko told British journalist Graham Phillips that a year ago he had led a 'normal life, going to banyas and cafes with his friends'.

In February 2015, Zakharchenko, representing the DPR, agreed to the Minsk II peace treaty, calling it a "major victory for the Lugansk and Donetsk People's Republics". After signing the Minsk agreements, Zakharchenko stated that should the Ukrainian authorities violate the terms of the agreements, violate the territorial agreements, or fail to release the DPR prisoner of wars, he would take Kharkiv and destroy the Ukrainian battalions in Debaltseve. Zakharchenko further stated that he had no intention of adhering to the ceasefire within the Debaltseve region. The LPR and DPR went on to capture Debalteve, with Zakharchenko wounded in the leg on 17 February 2015 during the closing stages of the Battle of Debaltseve.