Luhansk or Lugansk, formerly known as Voroshilovgrad, is internationally recognized as a city in eastern Ukraine, but effectively, Luhansk is the capital and administrative center of the Luhansk People's Republic, an unrecognized state that was established in 2014. Until the establishment of LPR, Luhansk was the administrative center of the Luhansk Oblast.
History
The city traces its history to 1795 when the British industrialist Charles Gascoigne founded a metal factory near the Zaporizhian Cossacks settlement Kamianyi Brid. The settlement around the factory was known as Luganskiy Zavod. In 1882 the factory settlement Luganskiy Zavod was merged with the town of Kamianyi Brid into the city of Luhansk. Located in the Donets Basin, Luhansk developed into an important industrial center of Eastern Europe, particularly as a home to the major locomotive-building company Luhanskteplovoz. The city was occupied by Nazi Germany between 14 July 1942 and 14 February 1943. On 5 November 1935, the city was renamed Voroshilovgrad in honour of Soviet military commander and politician Kliment Voroshilov. On 5 March 1958, with the call of Khrushchev not to give names of living people to cities, the old name was reinstated. On 5 January 1970, after the death of Voroshilov on 2 December 1969, the name changed again to Voroshilovgrad. Finally, on 4 May 1990, a decree of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR gave the city back its original name. In 1994 a referendum took place in the Donetsk Oblast and the Luhansk Oblast, with around 90% supporting the Russian language gaining status of an official language alongside Ukrainian, and for the Russian language to be an official language on a regional level; however, the referendum was annulled by the Ukrainian government. During the War in Donbass, separatists seized governmental buildings in the region, proclaiming the Luhansk People's Republic. An independence referendum, unconstitutional under the Ukrainian law, was held on 11 May 2014. This referendum was not recognized as legitimate by any government except South Ossetia. Ukraine does not recognize the referendum, while the EU and US said the referendums were illegal. The Republic of South Ossetia, a state with very limited international recognition, considered the referendum legitimate and recognized its outcome. On 25 June 2014, Luhansk was officially pronounced as the capital of the Luhansk People's Republic by the government of the separatist republic. In August 2014, Ukrainian government forces completely surrounded rebel-held Luhansk. Heavy shelling caused civilian casualties in the city. On 17 August, Ukrainian soldiers entered the rebel-controlled Luhansk and for a time had control over a police station. After the Ilovaisk counteroffensive, LPR forces regained Lutuhyne and other Luhansk suburbs. Ukrainian forces withdrew from the Luhansk International Airport on 1 September after heavy fighting. Luhansk became the capital and the administrative center of the rebel state of Luhansk People's Republic. The administration of the Luhansk Oblast was moved to Sievierodonetsk by the government of Ukraine.
In the Ukrainian Census of 2001, 49.6% of the inhabitants declared themselves as ethnically Ukrainians and 47% declared themselves as ethnically Russian. The most widespread native language was Russian, at 85.3% of the population. Ukrainian was the native language for 13.7% of the population, and there was also smaller numbers of speakers of Armenian and Belarusian.
On 7 September 2006, archaeologists in Ukraine announced that an ancient structure had been discovered near Luhansk, which the press reported as a pyramid antedating those in Egypt by at least 300 years. The stone foundations of the structure were said to resemble Aztec and Mayan pyramids in Mesoamerica. It was later concluded that the site in question was not a pyramid but was still of great interest.
Gallery
During 2014 and 2015, Luhansk has been the scene of intense fighting and most of these buildings are damaged to some extent. Some may be destroyed.
Luhansk features hot summer humid continental climate, it has both the highest and lowest temperature recorded in Ukraine; a record high of was recorded on 12 August 2010 while a record low of was recorded on 8 January 1935.
