Stepove () is a

rural-type settlement The definition of a rural settlement depends on the country, in some countries, a rural settlement is any settlement in the areas defined as rural by a governmental office, e.g., by the national census bureau. This may include even rural towns. ...

Ocheretyne settlement hromada Ocheretyne settlement hromada () is a hromada of Ukraine, located in Pokrovsk Raion, Donetsk Oblast. Its administrative center is the town of Ocheretyne. It has an area of and a population of 21,399, as of 2020. The hromada includes 40 settleme ...

Pokrovsk Raion Pokrovsk Raion ( uk, Покровський район, Pokrovskyi raion; russian: Покровский район, Pokrovsky rayon), is a raion (district) within Donetsk Oblast in eastern Ukraine. Its administrative center is Pokrovsk. Its area i ...

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 ...

. It is located northwest of the city

Avdiivka Avdiivka (, , is a city of regional significance in Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast. The city is in the center of the region, just north of the city of Donetsk. The large Avdiivka Coke Plant is located in Avdiivka. The city's population is officially ...

. Before 2016, it was known as Petrivske ( uk, Петрі́вське, link=no).

History

Before 2016, the settlement was known as Petrivske. As part of

decommunization in Ukraine Decommunization in Ukraine started during and after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. With the success of the Revolution of Dignity in 2014, the Ukrainian government approved Ukrainian decommunization laws, laws that outlawed commun ...

in 2016, it was renamed to Stepove.

Russian invasion of Ukraine

Since late 2023, Stepove has been a site of fighting during the

battle of Avdiivka The battle of Avdiivka was a battle in the war in Donbas near Avdiivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine that was fought in late January and early February 2017. It saw some of the highest casualties during that phase of the conflict. According to th ...

of the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

. On December 3, 2023, Russian forces were accused of committing a war crime when they murdered two unarmed surrendering Ukrainian soldiers near Stepove.

Demographics

According to the

2001 Ukrainian census The Ukrainian Census of 2001 is to date the only census of the population of independent Ukraine. It was conducted by the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine on 5 December 2001, twelve years after the last Soviet Union census in 1989.

, the village had a population of 62 people, of whom 35.48% natively spoke

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

and 64.52% natively spoke

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

References

{{Donetsk-geo-stub Rural settlements in Pokrovsk Raion Ocheretyne settlement hromada