Pokrovsk, Ukraine

Pokrovsk (, ; ), formerly known as Krasnoarmiisk (until 2016) and Grishino (until 1934), is a city and the administrative center of Pokrovsk Raion in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is located northwest of Donetsk. Prior to 2020, it was incorporated as a city of oblast significance. Its population was approximately However, due to residents’ relocation during the Pokrovsk offensive by Russia, the population declined to around 7,000 as of January, 2025.

Names

* 2016–present: ''Pokrovsk'' (; )
* 1964–2016: ''Krasnoarmiisk'' () or ''Krasnoarmeysk'' ()
* 1938–1964: ''Krasnoarmeyskoye'' () or ''Krasnoarmiiske'' ()
* 1934–1938: ''Postyshevo'' () or ''Postysheve'' ()
* 1884–1934: ''Grishino'' () or ''Hryshyne'' ()

History

Early history

Pokrovsk was founded as Grishino in 1875 by a decision of the Ministry of Railways of the Russian Empire authorizing a railway station. The railway settlement had two thousand inhabitants.

In 1881, a locomotive depot which became one of the main locomotive repair companies, Ekaterinoslavskaya railway, was built in the town. Two years later, in 1883, there was an enlargement to the station building; the central portion survives to this day. In May 1884, trains began transiting the rail station in Grishino.

With the development of the railway station, Grishino grew and there were new businesses, in particular for exploitation of underground minerals, starting with coal. By 1913, the population around Grishino station had more than doubled to about 4.5 thousand people.

After the Russian Civil War ravaged the former Empire, Grishino station continued its growth and by 1925 had a locomotive depot, a brick factory, and six mines. The victorious Soviet forces established the Ukrainian SSR in the USSR. The name of the station was changed to Postyshevo in 1934 to honor Pavel Postyshev, and in 1938, the name of the city became Krasnoarmeyskoe, commemorating the Soviet Red Army, after Postyshev was repressed during the Great Purge.

World War II

World War II heavily impacted the population of the city. The first Axis forces to arrive were Italians, followed by the Germans who occupied it on 19 October 1941. German forces proceeded to forcibly transfer many civilians by train to labor camps in Austria. Many residents defended their hometown. 8295 Soviet soldiers perished on the battlefield, and 4788 residents of the town were killed in World War II. The Germans operated a Nazi prison, a penal forced labour camp and a subcamp of the Stalag 378 prisoner-of-war camp in the city.

The city witnessed an atrocity when its remaining Jewish community was massacred by the German Nazi army in midwinter 1942. Furthermore, in February 1943, the Red Army perpetrated the massacre of Grischino, in which 508 POWs and 88 civilians were massacred, mainly Germans and Italians, but also Romanians, Ukrainians, Hungarians and Danes. On 8 September 1943, the town was re-taken by Red Army troops.

Post World War II period

In the 1950s, in the post-war period, the city renewed its industrial and residential construction.

Russo-Ukrainian War

War in Donbas

During the 2014-2022 War in Donbas, the city was near the frontline with the separatist Donetsk People's Republic.

In May 2016, the city was renamed to ''Pokrovsk'' as a result of decommunization laws, honoring the Intercession of the Theotokos known as Pokrova in Ukrainian.

Russian invasion of Ukraine

2023

On 7 August 2023 during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian missiles struck the city twice, killing nine people.

2024

In July 2024, Russia renewed efforts to reach and capture Pokrovsk in a new offensive. On 15 August, Serhii Dobriak, the head of the Pokrovsk City Military Administration, reported that Russian forces were only 10 km from the city, and urged all citizens, especially the elderly and families with young children, to evacuate. On 19 August, Ukrainian officials announced that families with children living in Pokrovsk and surrounding villages would be forced to leave. The population reportedly had decreased to 36,000 by 1 September. On 5 September, the train station closed for civilian evacuation due to a deteriorating security situation, using buses and the train station in Pavlohrad instead. According to Donetsk Oblast Governor Vadym Filashkin, 26,000 people, including 1,076 children, were still remaining in the city. By October, the population declined to 13,000.

2025

By January 2025, after the gradual advances of the Russian military toward the city, its civilian population had declined to around 7,000, the lowest level in two centuries.

Demographics

The population of Pokrovsk as of 1 August 2017 was 75,205 people.

According to 2001 census data, the breakdown by ethnicity is:

The population overall is:

Native language per 2001 Ukrainian census 59.8%
* Ukrainian 39.4%
*Armenian 0.2%
* Belarusian 0.1%

Culture

The city's welcome stele was destroyed on 2 January 2025 as a result of Russian shelling. A Ukrainian soldier, Pavlo Vyshebaba, took the letter "P" which was thrown on the road, saying that it should become an artifact in a future museum about the Russian-Ukrainian War.

Economy

Pokrovsk has central importance for the Ukrainian steel industry. Pischane is the largest plant for coking coal production in Ukraine. The site provided half of Metinvest's coal volume, used to produce steel at the company's plants. Loss of the Pokrovsk coal mine would thus be a major blow to Ukraine's steel production industry. According to the head of Ukraine's steelmakers' association, Oleksandr Kalenkov, a full closure of the plant could diminish Ukrainian steel production to only 2-3 million metric tons, down from a projected 7.5 million by the end of 2024.

The Pokrovsk Mine Management, besides Pischane, also operates one of the largest coal mines in Ukraine in the village Udachne. Because of the Russian war of aggression, the site is under constant danger of shelling.

In July 2021, an explosion occurred in the Udachne coal mine, injuring 10 miners in the blast. The affected workers were hospitalized in the Pokrovsk-based Central District Hospital.

Education

Following the loss of Ukrainian government control over Donetsk in 2014 during the War in Donbas, the Donetsk National Technical University was evacuated to Pokrovsk. On 28 February 2024, the university was partially destroyed by a Russian missile attack.

File:II DonNTU.jpg, Donetsk National Technical University in Pokrovsk in November 2014
File:Donetsk National Technical University after Russian attack, 2024-02-28 (00).jpg, The building in Pokrovsk after a Russian strike

Gallery

File:Прискорений потяг Покровськ - Дніпро, станція Покровськ, грудень 2016 року.jpg, Pokrovsk railway station in 2016
File:Chervonoarmijsk city center (2).JPG, Street in Pokrovsk in 2012
File:Братська могила загиблих воїнів періоду визвольних змагань 1917-1921 рр. та Другої Світової війни.jpg, Mass grave of Soviet soldiers who died during World War II, Sobornyi square, Pokrovsk
File:Пам'ятник Москаленку К.С., двічі Герою Радянського Союзу Покровськ (Красноармійськ) вул. Маршала Москаленка.jpg, Monument to Ukrainian-born Soviet Marshal Kirill Moskalenko in Pokrovsk, 2017

Notable people from Pokrovsk

* Volodymyr Kravets (born 1981), Ukrainian boxer
* Valeriy Kurinskyi (1939-2015), Ukrainian scientist, poet and composer
* Kyrylo Moskalenko (1902-1985), Soviet-Ukrainian Marshal
* Oleksandr Riabokrys (born 1952), Ukrainian movie director
* Kostiantyn Yelisieiev (born 1970), Ukrainian diplomat and former Ambassador of Ukraine to the European Union under Viktor Yushchenko

Notes

References

Bibliography

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External links

{{Authority control

Cities in Donetsk Oblast
Pokrovsk urban hromada
Populated places established in the Russian Empire
Bakhmutsky Uyezd
Former Soviet toponymy in Ukraine