Luhansk

Luhansk was named after the Luhan River, which flows through the city. According to folk etymology, the name is also derived to the word "Luh" (Ukrainian: Луг), which means "meadow", referring to the floodplains around the river.

A monument to Charles Gascoigne next to the local museum

One of the Mk V tanks used by the Don Army during the Russian Civil War

The city traces its history to 1795 when the British industrialist Charles Gascoigne founded a metal factory near the Zaporizhian Cossacks settlement Kamianyi Brid. The settlement around the factory was known as Luganskiy Zavod. In 1882 the factory settlement Luganskiy Zavod was merged with the town of Kamianyi Brid into the city of Luhansk (also Luhanske, according to the Kharkiv orthography).

Located in the Donets Basin, Luhansk developed into an important industrial center of Eastern Europe, particularly as a home to the major locomotive-building company Luhanskteplovoz. The city was occupied by Nazi Germany between 14 July 1942 and 14 February 1943.

On 5 November 1935, the city was renamed Voroshilovgrad (Russian: Ворошиловград, romanized: Voroshilovgrad; Ukrainian: Ворошиловград, romanized: Voroshylovhrad) in honour of Soviet military commander and politician Kliment Voroshilov. On 5 March 1958, after Khrushchev's call to not name cities after living people, the old name was reinstated.[1][2]

On 5 January 1970, after the death of Voroshilov on 2 December 1969, the name changed again to Voroshilovgrad. On 4 May 1990, a decree of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR gave the city back its original name.

In 1994 a consultative referendum took place in the Donetsk Oblast and the Luhansk Oblast, with around 90% supporting the Russian language gaining status of an official language alongside Ukrainian, and for the Russian language to be an official language on a regional level.[3]

Pro-Russian unrest in Luhansk, April 2014

During the war in Donbas, separatists seized governmental buildings in the region, proclaiming the Luhansk People's Republic. An independence referendum, unconstitutional under Ukrainian law, was held on 11 May 2014. This referendum was not recognized as legitimate by any government.[4][5]

In August 2014, Ukrainian government forces completely surrounded rebel-held Luhansk.[6] Heavy shelling caused civilian casualties in the city.[7][8][9] On 17 August, Ukrainian soldiers entered the rebel-controlled Luhansk and for a time had control over a police station.[10]

After the Ilovaisk counteroffensive, LPR forces regained Lutuhyne and other Luhansk suburbs. Ukrainian forces withdrew from the Luhansk International Airport on 1 September 2014, after heavy fighting.[11]

Luhansk became the capital and the administrative center of the rebel state of the Luhansk People's Republic. The administration of the Luhansk Oblast was moved to Sievierodonetsk by the government of Ukraine.

On September 30, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree declaring the annexation of multiple regions of Ukraine to Russia.[12] This annexation remains unrecognized by every other nation and the United Nations.

• Artemivskyi Raion
  • city of Oleksandrivsk
  • urban-type settlement Yuvileine
• Kamiano-Bridskyi Raion
• Zhovtnevyi Raion
• Leninskyi Raion

Some of the more prestigious universities in Ukraine have their home in Luhansk. Luhansk is the location of the main campus of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Luhansk, East Ukrainian Volodymyr Dahl National University and of Luhansk State Medical University.

A map of the Raions of Luhansk

In the Ukrainian Census of 2001,[13] 49.6% of the inhabitants declared themselves as ethnically Ukrainians and 47% as Russians. 85.3% of the population spoke Russian as their native language, while 13.7% spoke Ukrainian, 0.2% Armenian and 0.1% Belarusian.

Luhansk is home to Zorya Luhansk which now plays in the Ukrainian Premier League annual football championship and plays at the Avanhard Stadium. The club won the 1972 Soviet Top League.

The other football team was Dynamo Luhansk.

On 7 September 2006, archaeologists in Ukraine announced that an ancient structure had been discovered near Luhansk, which the press reported as a pyramid antedating those in Egypt by at least 300 years. The stone foundations of the structure were said to resemble Aztec and Mayan pyramids in Mesoamerica. It was later concluded that the site in question was not a pyramid but was still of great interest.

During 2014 and 2015, Luhansk has been the scene of intense fighting and most of these buildings are damaged to some extent. Some may be destroyed.

• 
  Luhansk University
• 
  Radianska Street at night
• 
  Luhansk Hotel
• 
  St. Volodymyr Cathedral
• 
  Luhansk railway station
• 
  Soviet buildings in the central city
• 
  City old hospital
• 
  Monument to Vladimir Dal
• 
  Luhansk Drama Theatre
• 
  A consumer electronics and appliance store, heavily damaged as a consequence of the Russo-Ukrainian War.
• 
  Monument to the Revolution Heroes

Luhansk has a hot summer humid continental climate (Köppen Dfa). Luhansk has both the highest and lowest temperature recorded in Ukraine. A record high of 42.0 °C (107.6 °F) was recorded on 12 August 2010, which is the highest temperature to have ever been recorded in Ukraine.[14][15] A record low of −41.9 °C (−43.4 °F) was recorded on 8 January 1935.[16]

Vladimir Dal, 1872

Kostiantyn Sytnyk, pre-2012

• Vladislav Anisovich (1908–1969) a Russian and Soviet painter and art educator
• Vladimir Bobrov (1915–1970) a Soviet fighter pilot and flying ace
• Nadiya Bychkova (born 1989) a Ukrainian-Slovenian ballroom and Latin American dancer
• Vladimir Dal (1801–1872), Russian lexicographer and polyglot
• Dov Feigin (1907-2000) an Israeli sculptor.
• Pavel Luspekayev (1927—1970) a Soviet actor
• Yulia Malinovsky (born 1975), Israeli politician
• Mikhail Matusovsky (1915–1990), Soviet poet, songwriter
• Julia Rysina (born 1989) stage name T-DJ Milana, DJ, composer, dancer and model
• Leonid Pasechnik (born 1970) leader of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic.
• Igor Plotnitsky (born 1964) former leader of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic.
• Andriy Portnov (born 1973) a Ukrainian lawyer and politician.
• Aleksandr Ptushko (1900–1973) a Soviet animation and fantasy film director
• Nikolay Shmatko (1943–2020), sculptor, professor and painter
• Tatyana Snezhina (1972–1995) a Russian poet and singer-songwriter.
• Kostiantyn Sytnyk (1926–2017) a Ukrainian and Soviet scientist and academician
• Kliment Voroshilov (1881–1969), Soviet military commander
• Yevheniy Yevtukhov (born 1984) stage name DJ Sender a Ukrainian DJ, music producer, songwriter and singer

Sergey Bubka, 2020

Irina Kirichenko, 1967

Viktor Onopko, 2011

Luhansk is twinned with:

• Cardiff, United Kingdom[19][20]
• Lublin, Poland[20][21]
• Székesfehérvár, Hungary[20][22]
• Daqing, China[20][23]
• Saint-Étienne, France[20][24]
• Pernik, Bulgaria[20]

• Luhansk Airlines
• Luhansk Airport
• Luhanskteplovoz
• Merheleva Ridge
• Aviation Technical Museum (Luhansk)

Look up luhansk in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Media related to Luhansk at Wikimedia Commons
• Luhansk travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Official website of the Luhansk city council
• Former website of the Luhansk city council (last updated July 2015) Archived 20 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine
• Topographic map 1:100 000