Lysychansk
A city by Lysycha Balka, where the first coal mine of the Donbas began working in 1796.
The ESU takes 1710 as the founding date of Lysychansk, when Zaporozhian Cossacks settled in the Lysycha Balka area. In 1721–1724 H. Kapustin, M. Vipreiskyi and S. Chyrkov obtained the first samples of hard coal in the floodplain of the Siverskyi Donets, and in 1796 the first coal mine of the Donbas began working near Lysycha Balka. In 1873 a school for mine foremen opened, on whose basis a mining college was created in 1921; in 1892 the russian-Belgian company “Liubimov, Solvay & Co.” launched a soda plant in Verkhnie. From 22 May to 24 July 2014 the city was held by “LNR” militants. On 1 May 2022 a russian shell burned the building of Lyceum No. 17 — an 1895 house designed by Belgian architects for the soda plant's settlement; only the walls survived. On 3 July 2022, after heavy fighting, the Armed Forces of Ukraine withdrew from Lysychansk, and the city was occupied.
Temporarily occupied since 2022.
Chronicle
- 24 July 2014 — The city was liberated by Ukrainian troops.
- June 2022 — Fighting for Zolote and Hirske; from 21 June, under threat of encirclement, Ukrainian units began to withdraw from there towards Lysychansk.
- 3 July 2022 — After heavy fighting, Ukrainian forces left the city; in Luhansk region the Armed Forces of Ukraine still held Bilohorivka and Verkhnokamianka.