The Soledar Salt Mines (also called Artemsil Salt Mines after the State Enterprise Association Artemsil that operates the mines) are located in the city/suburb of

Soledar Soledar ( uk, Соледа́р, ; ), formerly known as Karlo-Libknekhtovsk ( uk, Карло-Лібкнехтівськ, Karlo-Libknekhtivs'k, 1965–1991), is a city in the Bakhmut Raion, which is located in what is internationally recognised as ...

in the

Bakhmut Bakhmut ( uk, Ба́хмут, ) is a city in the Donbas and the administrative centre of Bakhmut Raion in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is located on the Bakhmutka River, about 89 km north of Donetsk city, the administrative center of the o ...

municipality in

Donetsk Oblast The Donetsk Oblast ( ukr, Донецька область, Donetska oblast, ), also referred to as Donechchyna ( ukr, Донеччина, links=no), is an oblast of eastern Ukraine. It is Ukraine's most populous province, with around 4.1 mill ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. The scale of the mines is vast, with of tunnels at a depth of , and many of the chambers are in height. The largest resembles a

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

of about length and width and height, and has accommodated

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

matches and the inflation of a

hot air balloon A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft consisting of a bag, called an envelope, which contains heated air. Suspended beneath is a gondola or wicker basket (in some long-distance or high-altitude balloons, a capsule), which carries p ...

. The

temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer. Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied o ...

underground is constant at 14–15 °C, with 14.93 PSI

air pressure Atmospheric pressure, also known as barometric pressure (after the barometer), is the pressure within the atmosphere of Earth. The Standard atmosphere (unit), standard atmosphere (symbol: atm) is a unit of pressure defined as , which is equival ...

and 60%

humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity depe ...

regardless of the time of the year, giving rise to claims of healing properties for lung conditions. Many of the chambers are exquisitely decorated with carvings in the salt rock. There are accommodation areas and even a church. A particle physics detector, the , is located in the mine.

History

The mining of

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...

started in the town of

in the 19th century.

Russian invasion of Ukraine

During the

Battle of Soledar The Battle of Soledar was a series of military engagements in and around the urban-type settlement of Soledar during the battle of Donbas in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russian forces began an offensive on 3 August 2022, shelling Sol ...

on 5 January 2023, the

Wagner Group The Wagner Group (russian: Группа Вагнера, Gruppa Vagnera), also known as PMC Wagner ( «Вагнер», ChVK «Vagner»; ), is a Russian paramilitary organization. It is variously described as a private military company (PMC), a ...

and

Russian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (, ), commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military forces of Russia. In terms of active-duty personnel, they are the world's fifth-largest military force, with at least two m ...

took parts of Soledar's east, forcing the

Armed Forces of Ukraine , imports = , exports = , history = , ranks = Military ranks of Ukraine , country=Ukraine The Armed Forces of Ukraine ( uk, Збро́йні си́ли Украї́ни), most commonly known ...

to step back and take up defences further west and in the central parts of Soledar. On 10 January 2023, pro-Russian outlets, including Wagner Group leader

Yevgeny Prigozhin Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin (russian: link=no, Евгений Викторович Пригожин; born 1 June 1961) is a Russian oligarch and close confidant of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Prigozhin was called "Putin's chef" because h ...

, claimed the mines were largely occupied by Russian and Wagner Forces, although these reports were not independently verified. However, between 11 and 13 January 2023, major Russian offensives towards the central part of Soledar made large progress. At the same time, Russian forces north and south of Soledar made large advances over the countryside to the roads, threatening encirclement of the central parts of Soledar. Thus, the Ukrainians were forced to step back to the west of Soledar, putting much of the Soledar Salt Mine under Russian control.

Non-mining activities

References

{{portal bar, Food Historical regions in Ukraine Salt mines in Ukraine Show mines Soledar

History

Russian invasion of Ukraine

Non-mining activities

See also

References