Following the events surrounding the War in Donbass, the western part of the raion remained under control of the Ukrainian government, whereas most of the area was under administration of the Donetsk Peoples' Republic. To facilitate the administration, on 9 December 2014, the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's national parliament, changed the boundaries and total area of the Novoazovsk Raion to encompass . The district's administration buildings and government were moved to the urban-type settlement of Vynohradne. The amended area of the raion is under control of the Donetsk People's Republic.