Description of Luhansk

Luhansk or Lugansk is a Ukrainian city located at the confluence of the Lugán and Oljóvaya rivers, the administrative center of the Lugansk Oblast (Region). Since April 2014, the city is effectively managed by the People's Republic of Lugansk, a state with limited recognition - of which it is the administrative center. It is one of the industrial centers of the Dónets mining basin, where products such as equipment for mining and railways, processed foods and tools are manufactured. The city has a medical school and an agricultural institute.

Founded in 1795 as a steel mill, Lugansk grew when large-scale coal mining began to develop in the region, around 1890. For 43 years (between 1935 and 1958, and again between 1970 and 1990) the city was called Voroshilovgrad (City of Voroshilov) in honor of the Soviet military Kliment Voroshilov.

In 2014, the city of Lugansk became one of the main centers of the pro-Russian revolts against the government of Kiev, getting to proclaim the People's Republic of Lugansk, as already happened in other cities of the region as Donetsk. After the Ilovaisk counteroffensive, RPL forces recovered Lutúgine and other suburbs of Lugansk. The Ukrainian forces withdrew from Lugansk International Airport on September after a violent combat.

1740-1750 years - winter houses and farms of several Small Russian aka Ukrainian Cossack families on the territory of the modern city. In the years 1753-1755, by government permission, families of Serbs, Croats, Moldavians and Bulgarians joined them. In particular, in 1753 the Slavic-Serbian regiments of Shevich and Preradovich arrived. Also, Ukrainians moved here, at first mainly from the Left Bank of Ukraine, Russians and representatives of other peoples. Founded Kamenny Brod settlement.
1790 - the Scottish engineer Carl Gascoigne, invited to Russian service, was entrusted with the task of exploring deposits of ores and coal in the region of Slavianoserbia. Gascoigne fulfilled the order and assured the government that "the found ore mines of iron ore and coal for examination promise the richest amount of these minerals in the best quality."
November 14, 1795 - Catherine II issues a decree on the foundation of the first iron foundry in the south of the empire, the construction of which in the valley of the Lugan River is associated with the emergence of the city. The villages of Kamenny Brod (founded in 1755) and Vergunka were the first settlements to accept the builders and workers of the Lugansk foundry.
1797 - the village that sprang up around the plant was called the Lugansk Plant. Workers and specialists were recruited from internal Russian provinces, partly from abroad. The main backbone was made up of artisans from the Lipetsk plant, as well as highly skilled workers from the Aleksandrovsky cannon factory in Petrozavodsk (Olonets province), carpenters and masons from the Yaroslavl province. All the main administrative and technical personnel consisted of the English invited by Gascoigne.

XIX century
During the war with Napoleon, the Lugansk plant became one of the main suppliers of guns and ammunition for the Russian army. In 1823, the first educational institution was opened in the village - a professional mountain school. By the end of the 1860s, the population of the village reached 10 thousand people. In the mid-1870s, the Lugansk-Debaltseve railway opened. On September 3, 1882, the emperor approved the position of the Committee of Ministers of the Russian Empire on the foundation on the basis of the village of Lugansk Plant with the annexation of the village of Kamenny Brod of the city of Lugansk.

1896 - German industrialist Gustav Hartmann begins the construction of a large steam locomotive plant. The equipment was brought from Germany.
According to the 1897 census, the population is 20,404 people, distributed according to their native language as follows: Great Russian - 13,907, Little Russian - 3902, Jewish - 1449, Belarusian - 716.

XX century
1900 - the first freight steam locomotive built here came out of Lugansk onto railway lines.
The beginning of the XX century - Lugansk (as part of the Slavianoserbsky district of the Yekaterinoslav province) was a large industrial center of the Russian Empire. There were 16 factories and plants, about 40 craft enterprises. A telephone exchange was opened in the city, a new building for the postal and telegraph office was built. There were 5 cinemas: “Artistic”, “Express”, “Hermitage”, “Illusion” and Sharapova. In Lugansk there were 6 Orthodox churches, a synagogue, a Roman Catholic church, a Lutheran church. The first church was built back in 1761 in Kamenny Brod - the wooden Peter and Paul Cathedral. In the period 1792-1796. in the same place a stone church was built, the only one preserved to this day.
1917-1919 - the events of the revolution and the Civil War. Power is alternately in the hands of the Bolsheviks, the Central Council, the Austro-German troops, Don Cossacks, and the Armed Forces of the South of Russia.
April 1918 - the capital of the Donetsk-Kryvyi Rih Republic.
February 1919 - December 1920 - the capital of the Donetsk province.
May 27, 1919 - December 24, 1919 - the city under the control of the All-Union Socialist League.
December 1919 - Soviet power was finally established.
From 1923 until February 1940, the 240th Infantry Regiment, the 80th Artillery Regiment, and the 80th Equestrian Squadron of the 80th Infantry Division of the Ukrainian Military District were located in the city. In July 1928, by order of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR, the regiment was given a new name - the 240th rifle Red-Lugansk regiment. The patronage of the regiment was carried out by the local city council of people's deputies. In 1934, the Komsomol organization of the 240th Lugansk joint venture was awarded the challenge Red Banner of the Central Committee of the Komsomol for exemplary discipline and study.
1926 - the population of the city is 77,000 people.
October 31, 1931 - the first in the USSR heavy cargo steam locomotive of the Felix Dzerzhinsky series is produced in Lugansk.
May 1, 1934 - the first tram was launched.
November 5, 1935 - the city was renamed Voroshilovgrad.
June 3, 1938 - the city becomes a regional center.
July 17, 1942 - February 14, 1943 - occupation of the city by German troops.
On February 14, 1943, he was freed from German troops by the Soviet troops of the Southwestern Front during the Voroshilovgrad operation.

Not wanting to retreat, the German invaders from February 20, 1943 subjected the city to fierce 10-day bombing. In just 1 day, 345 people died. As a result, as of April 1, 1943, only 73,000 people remained in Voroshilovgrad.
1956 - more than 250 thousand people lived in the city.
March 5, 1958 - the historical name Lugansk is returned to the city. Reasons: in September 1957, on the initiative and signed by K.E. Voroshilov (at that time - Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR) issued a Decree prohibiting the assignment of names to living people, no matter what feats they might glorify, and Voroshilov’s participation in the anti-party group.
1970 - the city was renamed Voroshilovgrad after the death of Voroshilov (1969) by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Ukrainian SSR of January 5, 1970. "On the renaming of the city of Lugansk and the Lugansk region."
1972 - the football club Zarya became the only champion of the USSR in football the only time. This was the first USSR champion from a city that was not the capital of the republic.
1970-1980 - the elimination of the "criminal nest" in the city center in the Gypsy ravine, the beginning of its development.
1990 - Lugansk was returned to its original name.
1991 - the population of the city is 524 thousand people.
1994-1998 - Alexey Danilov was the mayor of Lugansk. Later, in 2005, became the governor of the Lugansk region.
1996 - the population of the city is 517 thousand people.
XXI Century
At the beginning of the XXI century, 87 industrial enterprises worked in the city (the leading industry is engineering). From 1998 to 2002, the city mayor was Anatoly Yagoferov, a member of the Reforms and Order Party. In 2001, an all-Ukrainian census was held in the country according to which the population of Lugansk amounted to 463 thousand people. In the 2002 local elections, which took place along with the nationwide parliamentary elections, Yevgeny Burlachenko was elected mayor.

Since 2006, Sergey Kravchenko became the mayor. In 2009, the population of the city is 474 thousand people. In the agglomeration, the center of which is Lugansk - 688 thousand people.

In 2012, the last tram was launched. In 2013, the Yakubovsky pipe plant was stopped.

Shares in support of Euromaidan were small, although the first pickets of supporters of European integration were put up on November 22. On December 13, 2013, a special train of activists was sent from Lugansk to Kiev to support the authorities.

March 2, 2014 and. about. President of Ukraine Alexander Turchinov ousted Lugansk Governor Vladimir Priestyuk and appointed Mikhail Bolotsky in his place. On March 5, at the pro-Russian rally, “people's governor” Alexander Kharitonov was elected. On March 9, opponents of the new Ukrainian authorities seized the building of the regional administration, raised the flag of Russia and expelled Mikhail Bolotsky, having obtained a letter of resignation from him. On March 21, supporters of the Ukrainian authorities from People’s Self-Defense crushed a picket tent of pro-Russian activists from the Lugansk Guard. On March 27, broadcasting of Russian channels was prohibited, which provoked a protest from the residents of the city. On March 30, a rally was held in Lugansk under the slogan: “Yes” to the referendum, “no” to the presidential election !.

On April 6, a rally of many thousands took place in the city under the flags of Russia and with St. George ribbons, after which the protesters seized the building of the SBU. On April 29, activists of the Luhansk People's Republic again seized the building of the regional administration, as well as the building of the prosecutor's office, the regional television and radio company LOT and the Office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

On April 27, 2014, at a rally near the SBU building seized by pro-Russian activists, the Luhansk People's Republic was proclaimed.

On May 11, the authorities of the self-proclaimed LPR held a referendum on self-determination, following which the next day, May 12, at a rally in the city center, independence of the republic was proclaimed.

On June 2, 2014, the Ukrainian Air Force launched an air strike in the center of Lugansk, which killed civilians. In the square in front of the shelled state administration, two unexploded unguided missiles were found, the total number of ammunition fired during a volley was about 20. 8 civilians (including 5 women) were killed, more than 20 people were seriously injured.