By the late 19th century, the Russian Empire was rapidly advancing along the path of industrialization. Much of this development occurred in the Donets Basin, located in eastern Ukraine—a region now tragically known worldwide as the Donbas. The name "Donbas" is a contraction of Donetskyi Basein ("Donets Basin"). This area possessed immense industrial potential, with land so fertile and rich in underground coal deposits that it remains a source of territorial disputes to this day.  

The rapid emergence of factories, workshops, and mines did not elicit much enthusiasm from the prosperous Ukrainian rural population. In contrast, it attracted a significant influx of Russian immigrants from the central regions of the empire, areas that were far less fertile and economically productive. These migrants settled in newly established industrial towns, giving these areas a Russophone linguistic character—a feature that has, unfortunately, become a point of contemporary conflict.  

One of these towns, founded in 1870, was named Yuzivka (or Juzovka in Russian), after the surname of its founder, John Hughes. In Russian, his name was transliterated as Juz, with the z pronounced like the s in the word "rose." Hughes, a Welshman, sought fortune in the Tsarist empire and established iron foundries, coal mines, and railway construction enterprises. Around this industrial hub, the settlement of Yuzivka grew, now known as Donetsk, which served as a residence for the local workers.  

Although Hughes spent nearly two decades in what is now the Donbas, he never learned Russian. However, he devised a clever method to sign documents written in the empire’s official language. Hughes discovered that he could simply write the number "103" and connect the first two digits with a horizontal line. This creative signature formed the Cyrillic letters "ЮЗ", which conveniently spelled his surname, Hughes/Juz, in Cyrillic script.