Alchevsk

Alchevsk (Алчевськ; Алчевск) is a city and the nominal administrative center of Alchevsk Raion in Luhansk Oblast, in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. It is located 45 km from the administrative center of the oblast, Luhansk. Population:

Alchevsk is one of the largest industrial centers in the Donbas, and comprises a quarter of the entire oblast's production. Its economy depends on the companies of OJSC "Alchevsk Iron & Steel Works" (a trade blockade by Ukrainian activists during the war in Donbas has all but halted production of this plant in February 2017) and "Alchevsk Coke-Chemical Plant".

The city was known as Voroshylovsk (Ворошиловськ) from 1931 to 1961, and then Kommunarsk (Комунарськ) until 1991. Alchevsk came under control of pro-Russian separatists in early 2014, and was incorporated into the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR / LNR). After declaring its annexation of the region in 2022, Russia has claimed the city.

History
Alchevsk was founded in 1895 with the establishment of an iron works and named after the Russian industrialist Oleksiy Alchevsky who founded the Donetsk–Yuryev Metallurgical Society.

A local newspaper is published in the city since 1930.

In 1931, Alchevsk was renamed Voroshylovsk, after Kliment Voroshilov, a Soviet military and party figure.

During World War II, in 1942–1943, the German occupiers operated a Gestapo prison in the city.

As Voroshilov's personality cult was diminishing, the town was renamed Kommunarsk in 1961. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the original name was restored in 1991.

Winter disaster of 2006
On 22 January 2006, the city's district heating system collapsed, in what Luhansk Governor Gennady Moskal described as "the worst man-made disaster in the history of independent Ukraine". It has subsequently become a metonym in Ukrainian political discourse for cities without utility services, particularly during Russian infrastructural attacks in the 2020s invasion.

The system had already collapsed once before: in 1972, when the sole boiler failed. Contemporary Soviet authorities had authorized a second, back-up boiler, but did not further decentralize the system to preserve economies of scale.

In 2006, an underground pipe cracked in unusually cold weather (nearly $-30 °C$), isolating the main boiler from the system. The heat authority delayed draining the working fluid, and water throughout the system froze and burst additional pipes, some inside the walls of residential apartments. Consequently, many apartments could not be heated even after the boilers were restored to working order. Inhabitants turned to electric space heaters to fill the gap, but these overloaded the grid, leading to rolling blackouts. Some attempted to reuse gas ovens as space heaters, accentuating the effects of a Russian gas boycott. Without liquid tap water, the sewer system also froze and burst a few days later.

The crisis was particularly urgent for the Ukrainian government, because parliament would hold elections in March. The authorities temporarily evacuated schoolchildren from the area to Crimea and Western Ukraine, but struggled to organize an extensive repair effort. Workers imported to repair the apartments found themselves in substandard housing with inconsistent meals. Nevertheless, immediate repair actions were complete by mid-February.

Later that year, President Yushchenko announced a plan to further harden the system against stress with a set of nine distributed boilers.

War in Donbas (2014–present)
Starting mid-April 2014, pro-Russian separatists captured and occupied several towns in the Luhansk Oblast, including Alchevsk. In the following war in Donbas, the city became a part of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic.

In June 2020, as part of the reform of administrative divisions in Ukraine, Alchevsk was made the administrative center of Alchevsk Raion. This new status is not recognized by the pro-Russian occupation authorities.

After the 2022 Russian annexations of Southern and Eastern Ukraine, the city is now claimed by Russia itself.

Economy
The main branches of Alchevsk industry – metallurgical and chemical. Electromechanical, light and food industry is also developed. Currently the city has 17 industrial enterprises.

Demographics
As of the Ukrainian Census of 2001:

Education
The Donbas State Technical University, founded in 1957, is located in Alchevsk.

Sports
Alchevsk is home to the football team FC Stal Alchevsk which currently participates in the Ukrainian First League, the second tier of national football competitions.

Twin towns and sister cities
Alchevsk is twinned with:
 * 🇵🇱 Dąbrowa Górnicza, Poland
 * 🇭🇺 Dunaújváros, Hungary

Notable people

 * Oleksandr Babych (born 1979), Ukrainian football player and manager
 * Yevhen Koshovyi (born 1983), Ukrainian TV presenter
 * Krystyna Sankova (born 1996), Ukrainian artistic gymnast