Toretsk


Toretsk, formerly Dzerzhynsk, is a city of oblast significance in Donetsk Oblast of Ukraine.

History

The settlement Shcherbynovka was founded in 1810 in Russian Empire.
A local newspaper is published here since September 1936.
In October 1938 the urban-type settlement Shcherbynovka became a city Dzerzhynsk, in honor of communist Felix Dzerzhynsky.
In 1989, the population was 50,538 people.
In 2013, the population was 35 296 people.
Starting mid-April 2014 pro-Russian separatists captured several towns in Donetsk Oblast; including former Dzerzhynsk. On 11 July 2014 Ukrainian forces launched strikes against the separatists. On 21 July 2014, Ukrainian forces secured the city from the pro-Russian separatists. Toretsk is only a few kilometers away from the separatists-controlled Horlivka.
Following the 2015 law on decommunization, the city council has decided on 16 October 2015 to rename the city to Toretsk. The name was approved by the Verkhovna Rada on 4 February 2016.
Because of the War in Donbass the city has had its water supply cut multiple times.
Nikolai Ryzhkov, a former Premier of the Soviet Union, was born in the city in 1929.

Demographics

As of the Ukrainian Census of 2001, the majority of residents identified as ethnic Ukrainians and spoke Russian as their first language:

Ethnicity