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.