Lyman, Ukraine

Lyman (Лиман, ; Лиман), formerly known as Krasnyi Lyman (Красний Лиман; Красный Лиман, lit. 'Red Liman') from 1925 to 2016, is a city in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. Until 2016, it also served as the administrative center of Lyman Raion, though administratively it was not part of the raion and incorporated as a city of oblast significance. It still serves as the administrative center of Lyman urban hromada. The population was down from 28,172 in 2001.

The city has its origins in a military settlement built to guard the southern frontier of the Tsardom of Russia. It grew to become a city following the construction of a railway station, and became a key railway hub in the region. It was renamed to Krasnyi Lyman by the Soviet government that followed Tsarist Russia, and continued to grow throughout the 20th century.

During the Russo-Ukrainian War, the city has seen several battles. The first was the battle of Krasnyi Lyman in 2014 between Ukrainian government forces and the Russian proxies loyal to the breakaway state the Donetsk People's Republic, which was won by Ukrainian forces. It remained under government control throughout the remainder of the war in Donbas, and was renamed to its historic name Lyman in 2016 as part of decommunization in Ukraine. During the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Lyman has been a scene of heavy fighting. It was captured by the Russian military in May 2022, before being liberated by Ukrainian forces in October 2022. The city has been nearly destroyed by the post-2022 fighting, and most of the population has fled.

Pre-founding
Archaeologists have discovered Neolithic stone sculptures in the Lyman district and Scythian remains from the fourth and third centuries BCE.

Founding and Tsarist history
In 1646, the "Mayaka" fort was built 18 km away from the location of modern Lyman, as part of the larger effort to defend the southern border of Tsardom of Russia from the attacks of the Crimean Tatars, especially along the Donets river. Lyman itself was founded in 1667/1678 as a fortified town near the Mayaka fortress. In the course of the administrative reform carried out in 1708 by Moscow tsar Peter I, Lyman was explicitly mentioned as one of the towns included to Azov Governorate.

From 1904 to 1910, a railway was constructed that passed through Lyman. This railway stimulated growth of civilian settlement in the area, where earlier settlers had been entirely military.

20th century
Lyman changed hands numerous times during the Russian Civil War. During the 1918 Central Powers invasion of Ukraine, Lyman was taken over by the invaders in April 1918. Eventually, the Bolsheviks recaptured Lyman, won the war and established the communist Soviet Union on much of the territory of the former Russian Empire. The town was given the prefix Krasnyi ("red") on 9 January 1925 by the Soviet government. According to the 1926 Soviet census, Krasnyi Lyman had a population of 4,800 people.

Krasnyi Lyman received city status in 1938, and its population continued to grow: by 1939, it had a population of 25,600. During World War II, Krasnyi Lyman was occupied by Nazi Germany between 7 July 1942 and 3 February 1943.

The city's population continued to grow after the end of the war. In 1988, Krasnyi Lyman became a city of regional significance.

Russo-Ukrainian War
In June 2014, the city was the scene of the battle of Krasnyi Lyman during the war in Donbas. On 5 June the town returned to Ukrainian control. Following the 2015 law on decommunization the city returned to its original name Lyman, removing the prefix Krasnyi. The change was approved by the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament) on 4 February 2016.

Lyman is an important railway junction. During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, following an intense battle for the city, Lyman was seized by Russian troops on 27 May 2022. The Russian occupiers changed the city's name back to the Soviet name Krasnyi Liman shortly thereafter. The control of Lyman, while it is not a large city, gave Russia and its proxies control of a key road that leads to Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. From 10 September, Ukrainian troops advanced to Lyman as part of the Ukrainian Kharkiv counteroffensive, and engaged Russian troops in a second battle. On 1 October, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman announced that Russian forces were withdrawing from the city, hours after Russian president Vladimir Putin had declared the city annexed by Russia.

The largely destroyed city has still been regularly shelled by Russia after the battles. On 8 July 2023, at around 9:55 a.m., the Russian Armed Forces shelled the residential area in the center of Lyman with 9M55K-series Smerch cluster munition. Lyman was at the time approximately 15 kilometers west of Russian-occupied territories. The bombing killed 9 civilians, while 13 were wounded.

Economy
The city is known by locals as "The Gates of Donbas", and is a regional export hub for goods like coal, salt, and sand.

Lyman is a key railway hub, carrying up to 30% of cargo on the Donetsk railway system. 35% of residents are employed in rail transport, and 18% in industry. Railway transport enterprises include the local office of the Donetsk Railway Administration, the PMS-10 track engine station, the ТЧ-1 locomotive depot, the РПЧ-3 motor car depot, and numerous maintenance sites and sections of the railway. Other industries include food processing, a feed mill, quarry management, the Leman-Beton concrete manufacturer, and others.

More than 80 agricultural enterprises operate in the region. The forestry and animal husbandry business is among the most important in Ukraine. More than 40,000 mink skins are produced in Lyman annually. There is also a branch of the energy company 000 Donbasnefteprodukt. Other industries have included a silicate brick factory, an asphalt and concrete factory, and a food canning factory.

Demographics
As of the 2001 Ukrainian census, 28,172 people lived in the city. Of these, 84.4% were Ukrainians, 13.8% were Russians, and 0.6% were Belarusians.

In terms of native language, 69.8% spoke Ukrainian, 29.67% spoke Russian, and 0.53% spoke other languages or did not answer the survey question.

The population has declined in the early 21st century, decreasing to an estimated 20,066 by 2022. After the intense fighting during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, most residents have fled or have been killed, with Lyman mayor Oleksandr Zhuravlev estimating only 6,000 remaining in 2023, including 500 children.

Twin towns
On 11 January 2023, Westport, Connecticut officially announced Lyman as their sister city.