Horlivka ( HOR-lif-kə; Ukrainian: Горлівка, IPA: [ˈɦɔrl⁽ʲ⁾iu̯kɐ] ⓘ), also known as Gorlovka (Russian: Горловка, IPA: [ˈɡorləfkə], local pronunciation: [ˈɦɔrlɐu̯kɐ]), is a city in Donetsk Oblast of Ukraine. Its population is 239,828 (2022 estimate).
Economic activity is predominantly coal mining and the chemical industry. The Horlivka Institute for Foreign Languages has a two-building campus in the city centre.
The city was severely damaged during the Battle of Horlivka in 2014 as part of the war in Donbas. Since 2014, it has been mainly under Russian occupation.
Geography
Distance to Donetsk: 37 km by road, 53 km by rail.
The city is located on the western spurs of the Donetsk Ridge. Twenty-nine rivers flow through the city, but none cross it. The city is home to the headwaters of the Lugan (a tributary of the Seversky Donets), the Bakhmut (a tributary of the Seversky Donets), and the Korsun (a tributary of the Krynka). All are rivers of the Sea of Azov basin.
Symbols
Coat of Arms
The shield is framed on the right and left by acacia branches entwined with a silver ribbon. To the left of the shield is an image of a miner holding a jackhammer in his left hand, and to the right is an image of Archangel Michael holding a spear. At the bottom of the ribbon is the inscription "Gorlovka" in red letters. Above the ribbon is a red carnation—a symbol of the city's revolutionary past. Below the ribbon is an image of five oak leaves.
Flag
The flag is a rectangular panel with a length-to-width ratio of 2:1. The flag is divided diagonally from the upper left corner to the lower right: the upper right half is green (with a turtledove in the upper right corner), the lower left half is also divided diagonally into the lower left corner, blue, and the remaining half, red. The dividing line runs along the midpoints of the flag's length and width.
Anthem
Words by E. Legostaev, music by A. Vysotsky. Approved by decision XXIII/10-28 of the City Council session on August 27, 1999.
Chorus:
We do not change Motherland,
Our dear mother is the same as she was.
In her alone we live and die,
May she always live.
Chorus:
Under the blue Ukrainian sky,
In a wreath of golden fields,
My city stands as a worthy son,
Of my free Motherland.
Gorlov and Izotov both lived here,
Achieving righteous labor and deeds,
Birthing a fusion of reason and work,
Song and a lofty soul.
Chorus:
Gorlovka is a land of labor and song,
And generous smiles, and fire,
That's why I'm happy and cheerful,
Because you and I are blood relatives.
History
Foundation
The presence of about a hundred mounds on the site of today's Horlivka testifies to numerous human settlements in ancient times and makes it possible to study the city's history not from its founding, but several thousand years earlier.
The Cossack settlements better known to modern scholarship appeared in the 17th century, when Zaporozhians and fugitive peasants from the Russian Empire founded farmsteads along the Korsun, Zalizna, and Kodym rivers. To strengthen the borders of the Russian Empire, in the second half of the 18th century, the government formed Slavic-Serbian settlement regiments, comprising Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, and Vlachs who had fled Austrian oppression, as well as Ukrainian and Russian peasants and Cossacks. The regiments were divided into companies, which founded separate settlements on the territory of modern-day Horlivka.
Industrial Development
In 1754, the village of Gosudarev Bayrak was founded. In 1776, the wintering quarters and farmsteads in the Sukhoi Yar ravine and the Zhovanka tract merged to form the Zaitseve settlement, the southern part of which was named Mykytivka, in honor of one of its residents, Mykyta Deviatylov. In 1795, the village of Gosudarev Bayrak and the settlement of Zaitseve (both within the city limits of today's Horlivka) had a combined population of 6,514, while the settlement of Zalizne had 3,529 residents in 1884. Between 1800 and 1805, Shcherbynivka and Nelipivka were founded. The settlement of Zalizne emerged, populated primarily by immigrants from the Kharkiv province. In the early 19th century, coal deposits were discovered here, and small peasant mines were established.
With the start of construction of the Kursk-Kharkiv-Azov Railway in 1867, a settlement and a railway station of the same name, Korsun, were founded (later the settlement and station were named Horlivka), as well as a coal mine, named Korsunska Mine No. 1, consisting of two shafts, which were constructed by the mining engineer Pyotr Nikolaevich Gorlov, who also developed a technology for extracting steeply dipping coal seams.
In 1889, near the settlement of Horlivka (located in the Bakhmutsky Uyezd of the Ekaterinoslav Governorate), the industrialist A. N. Glebov discovered an anthracite deposit and began its development. Glebov managed to draw the government's attention to the enormous importance of his work both for the Donetsk region and for the whole of Russian Empire, and to receive a subsidy of 1.2 million rubles for the construction of metallurgical plants. In 1895, A. N. Glebov formed the Sovereign Bayrak Partnership, the founders of which, in addition to him, were his brother N. N. Glebov, the owner of the dolomite plant at Mykytivka station, K. F. Medvensky, and mining engineer L. G. Rabinovich. A. N. Glebov purchased a plot of land from the peasants of the village of Gosudarev Bayrak and built the St. Andrew's Mine. It was commissioned in 1897. During the Soviet era, the mine was named after M. I. Kalinin.
In 1913, 50 enterprises operated in Horlivka, employing a total of 13 thousand people. Horlivka, a provincial town, had a population of over 30,000. In the center stood the homes of the enterprise owners and engineering and technical workers, several dozen barracks, and typical three-window houses, arranged in 18 rows of 70 houses each. About 10,000 workers lived in semi-dugouts, sheds, and summer kitchens. There were three hospitals with 80 beds, two parish schools, four factory schools, and ten two-class zemstvo schools, a foreman's school (training foremen, mine surveyors, and hoist operators), a club theater, and a movie theater (the "Banaker" Club-Cinema, seating 300, since 1914).
In 1916, Horlivka officially became a city. In April 1918, troops loyal to the Ukrainian People's Republic took control of Horlivka.
Early Soviet period and War
Subsequently, under Soviet control, in 1925, the district center of Horlivka was created from mining and industrial settlements, with a population of 27,300 (40,500 residents including the settlements). At that time, Horlivka's mines produced 2.2 million tons of coal per year. During the industrialization years (late 1920s - early 1930s), Horlivka saw the reconstruction of old enterprises and the construction of new ones. Major industrial construction projects were underway: a coke plant in 1928, the Rumiantsev mine in 1932, the Kocheharka mine in 1933, and the Sergo Ordzhonikidze nitrogen fertilizer plant in April 1933. That same year, the world's largest cutting machine workshop (3,000 units per year) was built at a machine-building plant. In 1941, Mine No. 4-5 "Mykytivka," the largest mine in the Donbas, was commissioned.
In 1929, a mining technical school was established on the site of the former foreman's school. In 1932, the first tram line, 8 km long, was built, connecting the settlements of mines No. 1 and No. 5. By the 1930s it had expanded considerably and become a major center for mining operations in the Ukrainian SSR. In 1932, Horlivka was slated to become the administrative center of Donbas, but the person in charge, Lazar Kaganovich, appalled by the impassable mud near the Kocheharka mine, decided to go to Donetsk.
As part of a cultural and social expedition commemorating the 17th Party Congress in 1934, the idea of creating an underground refreshment center for miners was realized. A refreshment center opened in Shaft No. 1 at a depth of 690 meters, serving cold breakfasts to 200 (260) underground workers. The refreshment bar is located near the mine shaft.
By 1940, the city had 10 factories and 13 mines with a total annual coal production of 7.2 million tons, and a population of 181,500 and area 100 km2. A new water supply and sewerage system, a printing house, a factory kitchen, a post office, a department store, two bathhouses, a hotel, and a stadium were built. The population was served by six hospitals, three maternity hospitals, a children's sanatorium, three ambulance stations, 54 kindergartens, 68 schools, 22 cultural centers and clubs, and 25 libraries. In the early 1930s, a medical and arts faculty, a workers' arts faculty, a factory and plant school of public catering, branches of the Higher Engineering and Technical Courses and the Industrial Academy, and a school for livestock breeders and gardeners opened.
On June 16, 1941, the following cities of district subordination were abolished within the territory of the Horlivka Soviet:
- Kalininsk (formed the Kalinin District of Horlivka)
- Komsomolsk (became part of the Mykytivskyi District of Horlivka)
- Mykytivka (formed the Mykytivskyi District).
During the Second World War, the Horlivka mines were flooded by retreating Soviet troops, and equipment from the S. M. Kirov Machine Building Plant was evacuated to the Urals. The city was captured by Italian troops and occupied by German troops from 1941 to 1943. The Germans operated the Dulag 111 transit prisoner-of-war camp in the city.
After the Soviets recaptured the city on September 4, 1943, a movement to restore the coal industry arose in the Horlivka mines under the leadership of Maria Hryshutina with the slogan "Girls! To the coalface!". Retreating Germans burned buildings and perpetrated mass shootings. Nonetheless, the city's population had risen to over 400,000 by the end of the war.
Post-war period
By 1950, water, electricity, and sewer systems were operational. All schools were restored. In the post-war years, new residential neighborhoods were built in the city away from industrial enterprises, the water supply was improved, and the sewer system was reconstructed. All schools and preschools, 11 cultural centers and clubs, and 7 parks of culture and recreation were restored. In 1954, the Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages was transferred from Bila Tserkva to Horlivka.
By 1955, the city's population reached 204,000. Between 1956 and 1958, six mines, a repair and mechanical plant, three concrete plants, a woodworking plant, and 11 large workshops were commissioned in Horlivka. An art museum has been operating since 1959. Between 1959 and 1965, 18 enterprises were built, reconstructed, and expanded, including the Gagarin Mine, which was commissioned in December 1963. By 1979, the city's population reached 337,000.
21st Century
In October 2013, the reconstruction of the Horlivka Palace of Culture was completed.
War in Donbas
In the middle of April 2014, and shortly thereafter, pro-Russian separatists captured several towns in Donetsk Oblast. A group of separatists seized the police station in Horlivka on 14 April; the city hall was seized on 30 April. The mayor of the city, Yevhen Klep, was detained by the separatists on 11 June and not released until 18 July. Local chief of police Andriy Kryschenko was captured and badly beaten by the insurgents. A Horlivka city council deputy, Volodymyr Rybak, was kidnapped by the pro-Russian militants on 17 April. His body was later found in a river on 22 April. The city administration building was seized on 30 April, solidifying separatist control over Horlivka. Self-proclaimed mayor of Horlivka Volodymyr Kolosniuk was arrested by the SBU on suspicion of participation in "terrorist activities" on 2 July.
On 21 and 22 July 2014, the city saw heavy fighting. The Ukrainian army reportedly retook parts of Horlivka on 21 July. After the Ukrainian army had retaken Lysychansk on 25 July 2014, the recapture of Horlivka became a priority, for the city was seen as "a direct path to the regional center – Donetsk". As of 28 July, the city was reported to be fully surrounded by Ukrainian troops, with rebels holding their positions inside. However, Horlivka continued to be controlled by separatist forces. As of June 2015, it was situated ten kilometers from the war front. Suburbs of Horlivka stayed under Ukrainian army control. In November 2017 they regained control of the villages of Travneve and Hladosove north of Horlivka.