Toretsk

"Toretsk is a town of miners" inscription - one of the symbols of Toretsk

The settlement Shcherbynovka was founded in 1806[1] in Russian Empire.

A local newspaper is published here since September 1936.[5]

In October 1938 the urban-type settlement Shcherbynovka became a city Dzerzhynsk, in honor of Felix Dzerzhynsky, founder of the Soviet secret police, and architect of the Red Terror[6] and de-Cossackization of the region.

In 1989, the population was 50,538 people.[2]

In 2013, the population was 35 296 people.[7]

Starting mid-April 2014 Russian-backed paramilitaries captured several towns in Donetsk Oblast;[8][9] including the former Dzerzhynsk.[10] On 11 July 2014 Ukrainian forces launched strikes against these militias.[11] On 21 July 2014, Ukrainian forces secured the city from Russian forces.[12][13][14] Toretsk is only a few kilometers away from the occupied city of Horlivka.[12]

Following the 2015 law on decommunization, the city council has decided on 16 October 2015 to rename the city to Toretsk.[15] The name was approved by the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament) on 4 February 2016.[16]

Because of the War in Donbass the city has had its water supply cut multiple times.[17]

Nikolai Ryzhkov, a former Premier of the Soviet Union, was born in the city in 1929.

5-storey residential building after shelling during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, July 28, 2022

Dead civilians on the streets of Toretsk after Russian shelling on August 4, 2022

As of the Ukrainian Census of 2001, the majority of residents identified as ethnic Ukrainians and spoke Russian as their first language:[18]

• 
  Town entrance in 2008 when it was called Dzerzhynsk
• 
  Toretsk Avanhard Stadium
• 
  An apartment block in Toretsk
• 
  Ukraine Palace of Culture
• 
  Ukraine Palace of Culture interior
• 
  Buildings in downtown
• 
  Toretsk phenol factory club
• 
  Phenol factory building
• 
  Toretsk railway station
• 
  Crying mother monument