Луганск: история и современность города в условиях конфликта.

Russian occupied city in Ukraine
the city

Luhansk (/uk//l//uː/'/h//æ//n//s//k/, /us// /'/h//ɑː//n// /; Луганськ, ), also known as Lugansk (/uk// /'/ɡ//æ//n// /, /us// /'/ɡ//ɑː//n// /; Луганск, ), is a city in the Donbas region, eastern Ukraine. As of 2022, the population was estimated to be making Luhansk the 12th largest city in Ukraine. Luhansk served as the administrative center of Luhansk Oblast, before pro Russian separatists seized control of the city in 2014 and made it the capital of the self proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic. The Ukrainian administration was located in Sievierodonetsk from 2014 to 2022 during the war in Donbas, due to Ukraine not being in control of Luhansk. Sievierodonetsk was captured by Russia in 2022 and the Luhansk Oblast was later annexed by Russia in late 2022.

The city traces its history to 1797 when the British industrialist Charles Gascoigne, commissioned by the Imperial Russian government in 1795, founded an ammunition and cannon factory for the Black Sea Fleet. The factory was built in the Donets Basin (or Donbas) the confluence of the Luhan and Вільхівка (річка) rivers. The Russian craftsmen settled upstream, at the settlement of Kamianyi Brid. The name "Luhansk" comes from 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. The factory was greatly expanded during the Napoleonic Wars, and again during the Crimean War. By 1880, the factory was a large industrial node, linked by rail to other major cities and to the Azov Sea. In 1882, the Luhansk Factory was merged with Kamianyi Brid into a new settlement named Luhansk, which received city status. In 1897, Luhansk had a population of 20,400, 68.2% of whom were Russians.

Luhansk was economically devastated by the Russian Civil War. The city grew rapidly during the interwar period. In March 1942, a grand concert featuring the work of Taras Shevchenko was held in the city to inspire Ukrainians to fight off the invading Nazis. Kliment Voroshilov himself opposed the restoration of the old name in 1958. On January 1970, after the death of Kliment Voroshilov on 2 December 1969, the city's name was changed again to Voroshilovgrad. The previous demographic trends reversed in independent Ukraine; by 2001, Ukrainians who increasingly spoke Russian were 50% of the population and Russians made up 47%. The population as a whole began to decline as the economy stagnated, dropping from 505,000 in 1992 to 424,000 in 2014. These events escalated into the War in Donbas. In August 2014, Ukrainian government forces completely surrounded rebel held Luhansk. Heavy shelling caused civilian casualties in the city. On 17 August, Ukrainian soldiers entered the rebel controlled Luhansk and for a time had control over a police station. A statement released on 22 August by Lithuanian foreign minister Linas Antanas Linkevičius said that the Lithuanian honorary consul in Luhansk, Mykola Zelenec, was abducted by the pro Russian separatists and murdered. Linkevičius defined the abductors as 'terrorists'. Human Rights Watch reported high civilian casualties in and around the city, recording over 300 civilian deaths caused by explosive weapons between May and September 2014. The temporary administration of Luhansk Oblast was moved to Sievierodonetsk by the government of Ukraine. On 21 November 2017, armed men in unmarked uniforms took up positions in the center of Luhansk in what appeared to be a power struggle between the head of the republic Igor Plotnitsky and the (sacked by Plotnitsky) LPR appointed interior minister Igor Kornet. Media reports stated that the Donetsk People's Republic, a parallel Russian backed entity in neighboring Donetsk Oblast, had sent armed troops to Luhansk the following night. The website stated that security minister Leonid Pasechnik had been named acting leader "until the next elections." The annexation was illegal under international law and was condemned by the General Assembly of the United Nations.

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.

In the Ukrainian Census of 2001, 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.

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 was recorded on 12 August 2010, which is the highest temperature to have ever been recorded in Ukraine. A record low of was recorded on 8 January 1935.

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.