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55-567: The railway was formed in 1953 by merging the Bakhmut Northern Railway and the Yasynuvata Southern Railway. The railway serves Ukraine's largest industrial heartland of Donbas – Donetsk and Luhansk , and parts of Zaporizhzhia , Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts , thus combining in a single transport corridor the cities of Donbas and Dnipro , the central regions of Ukraine. It is connected to

110-429: A coat of arms of Bakhmut was approved, featuring symbolism evoking the salt reserves of the city. In 1863, a large synagogue was built in the city, as a place of worship for Bakhmut's Jewish community of 1,560 people. In 1875, a municipal water system was installed. In 1876, due to the work of Russian geologist Alexander Karpinsky , large deposits of rock salt were discovered near Bakhmut. Bakhmut soon produced 12.3% of

165-660: A colony in the Russian Empire established by settlers from the Balkans . It received city status in 1783, and underwent major industrialization over the following few centuries. In 1920–1924, the city was an administrative center of the newly created Donets Governorate of the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union. The city was known as Artemivsk or Artemovsk between 1924 and 2016. During World War II , it

220-463: A kind of mixed Ukrainian and Russian speech common in eastern Ukraine . Historically, Bakhmut was a more Ukrainian-speaking city. In 1897, most residents of Bakhmut spoke Ukrainian (61.8%), while minorities spoke Russian (18.9%) and Yiddish (16.7%). Bakhmut's political leaning and sense of identity has historically been mixed. In the 1991 Ukrainian independence referendum , the overwhelming majority of Bakhmut residents voted for independence from

275-599: A limited extent in the area that is now modern Ukraine. These Serbs came largely from the Military Frontier of the Habsburg Empire , where they enjoyed autonomy from the state. The abolishment of sectors of the frontier, and thus the loss of their autonomy, has been cited as a major reason for emigration to the Russian Empire. The Serbian polymath and historian Zaharije Orfelin posited that

330-649: A result of the Holodomor . During Stalin's Great Purge in the late 1930s, more than 500 residents of Artemivsk were victims of the repressions. During the Second World War , at the beginning of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Artemivsk's population included 5,300 Jews, making up almost 10% of the total population. The majority of these were either drafted into the Red Army or evacuated into

385-591: A route for Russian forces to press on toward Kramatorsk and Sloviansk , key Ukrainian strongholds in Donetsk province". In a December analysis of the offensive, however, the UK Ministry of Defence said "the capture of the town would have limited operational value although it would potentially allow Russia to threaten the larger urban areas of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk". On 11 December 2022, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russian forces had turned

440-514: A state salt mining company was created, which is now Artemsil . In 1925, the salt mining areas were split off from Bakhmut into their own urban-type settlement named Karlo-Libknekhtivsk (now Soledar). In 1924, the city's name was changed from Bakhmut to Artemivsk , in honour of the Bolshevik leader Fyodor Sergeyev , who was known as Comrade Artem (or Artyom). The city's synagogue was shuttered in 1928. 3,255 residents of Artemivsk died as

495-559: A tributary of the Siverskyi Donets, and located at the mouth of a stream called the Chornyi Zherebets. The ultimate origin of the name Bakhmut is uncertain. According to a theory by Kharkiv historian Igor Rassokhaa, the word may derive from a Turkic/Tatar word meaning 'salt water' or 'beach'. The name dates back to 1571. Bakhmut was initially a border post, and later became a fortified town. In 1701, Peter

550-522: Is also an internet publication, bahmut.in.ua . The Metalurh Stadium, a football stadium constructed in 1949, is located within the city and has a seating capacity of 4,800. The stadium was damaged during the Russian invasion. Slavo-Serbia Slavo-Serbia or Slaveno-Serbia was a territory of Imperial Russia from 1753 to 1764. It was located to the south of the Donets River, between

605-524: Is evidence of prior settlement in 1556, the first official mention of Bakhmut dates from 1571, when Ivan the Terrible , in order to protect the southern border of the Russian state from Crimean–Nogai slave raids , ordered the creation of border fortifications along the Aidar and Siverskyi Donets rivers. The settlement was described then as a guard-fort ( storozha ) named after the nearby Bakhmutka River,

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660-425: Is located in the suburb of Soledar . The chambers in the mine are large enough that a hot air balloon has been floated inside, and classical music concerts have been played. The highway between Kharkiv and Rostov-on-Don passes near the city. The city contains an institute of the salt industry, several technical colleges , medical schools, music schools, and teacher-training colleges . Among others, there

715-832: Is the Ivan Karabyts Bakhmut College of Arts (named after composer Ivan Karabyts ) and the Bakhmut Pedagogical College. There are twelve libraries , including one for blind people . After the outbreak of the war in Donbas in 2014 the Horlivka Institute for Foreign Languages was evacuated and is now operating in Bakhmut. The mass media in Bakhmut includes Russian-language newspapers such as Sobytiia and Vpered , as well as local television and radio channels. There

770-511: The Bakhmut hussar regiment  [ uk ; ru ] was formed by merging two Serbian settler regiments, with its headquarters in Bakhmut. After the abolition of Slavo-Serbia, in 1765 Bakhmut was assigned to Novorossiya Governorate . In 1775, it became part of the second Azov Governorate . In 1783, Bakhmut received city status, and was assigned to Yekaterinoslav Province of the re-established Novorossiysk Governorate . On 2 August 1811,

825-797: The Bakhmutka River and Luhan River. This area today is located within present-day Luhansk Oblast and Donetsk Oblast of Ukraine . The administrative centre of Slavo-Serbia was Bakhmut . It was bounded on the north by Slobozhanshchyna , on the west by the Cossack Hetmanate (a.k.a. the Zaporizhian Host), the Crimean Khanate to the south, and the Don Cossack Host to the southeast. As far back as 1723, Serb military colonists had been settling to

880-498: The G7 summit , Zelensky stated that the images of the ruined Hiroshima after atomic bombing reminded him of the level of destruction in Bakhmut. The battle is still ongoing with Ukraine claiming to still control a strip of territory within city limits along the T0504 highway, as well as performing attacks on the flanks of the city. By May 24, reports that corroborated the claimed seizure of

935-606: The Sea of Azov through Mariupol's commercial port. The railway comprises 13% of all track kilometres in Ukraine, but accounts for 47% of all traffic and 36% of the revenue of Ukrainian Railways. Its network covers around 57,000 square kilometres (22,000 square miles). The railway is a key route, serving passengers and several industries, including coal mines , metallurgical, coke-chemical and pipe mills, engineering and machine-building plants, chemical, light, and food. In December 2014,

990-484: The hromadas of Ukraine. In addition to Bakhmut, the hromada also contains the nearby town Krasna Hora and numerous small surrounding villages. Since 1950, the winery Artwinery  [ uk ; ru ] (or Artvaineri, formerly Artemovsk Winery) has operated in the city. Its production was disrupted by the Russian annexation of Crimea , as it used to procure 70% of its grapes from Crimea. The Artemsil salt mine

1045-457: The steppes . The administrative center of the colony was made Bakhmut . The Sloviano-Serbia Commission that administered the area was based in the town. Slavo-Serbia was directly governed by Russia's College of War . As a prime goal of the colony was to protect the Russian Empire's southern borders, the Serb and other South Slavic settlers were predominantly of a military background, and

1100-587: The Government of Ukraine to be employees of Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ) and has not recognised any other employer. Bakhmut Bakhmut ( Ukrainian : Бахмут , pronounced [bɐxˈmut] ; Russian : Бахмут ) is a city in eastern Ukraine . It is officially the administrative center of Bakhmut urban hromada and Bakhmut Raion in Donetsk Oblast . The city is located on the Bakhmutka River, about 90 kilometres (55 miles) north of Donetsk ,

1155-580: The Great ordered the fort at Bakhmut to be upgraded and the adjacent sloboda (free village) of Bakhmut be designated a city. The new fort was completed in 1703 and housed 170 people. In 1704, Peter commanded some Cossacks to settle at the Bakhmutka River and mine salt. The population of Bakhmut doubled, and the town was assigned to the Izium Regiment , a province of Sloboda Ukraine . In

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1210-675: The Orthodox peoples of the Balkans were chosen by Tsar Peter for settlement because, as speakers of a similar language and followers of the same religion, they would be "more reliable" than the Zaporozhian Cossacks , who were considered "insufficient". In October 1723, a group of predominantly Serb soldiers led by officer Jovan Albanez were officially formed into the Serbian Hussar Regiment . A year before

1265-544: The Russian occupation of Ukraine, authority over certain railways and stations was granted to Cisdnieper Railways and Ukrainian Southern Railways . Currently, southern branches are under Cisdnieper Railways' administration, while the northern branches are still operated by the Krasny-Lyman Directorate. In 2016, trains recommenced operation on a separate branch in Luhansk, which had become separated due to

1320-540: The Russian regions of Volga and the Caucasus . The railway has two border transfer stations on the Russia–Ukraine border , over which it does not have control due to war conditions. Those are Krasna Mohyla station ( Chervonopartyzansk ), Kvashyne , Ilovaisk , and Lantrativka , Troitske Raion . At its southern extreme, Donetsk Railways reaches Mariupol – the largest industrial center of Ukraine – and has access to

1375-464: The Soviet Union. In the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election , most voters in Bakhmut and surrounding areas voted for Russia-leaning Viktor Yanukovych and his party the Party of Regions . However, Christopher Miller, visiting the city in 2010, reported that "few seemed enthusiastic about having [voted for Yanukovych] and openly acknowledged that they believed he was corrupt. His party was seen by many as

1430-514: The Soviet era, between the later 1920s and the 1940s. There are also small minorities of ethnic Belarusians (0.6%), Armenians (0.3%), Romani people (0.2%), and Jews (0.2%). The most spoken native language is Russian (62%), with a large minority speaking Ukrainian (35%), and very small minorities speaking Armenian (0.19%), Romani (0.15%), and Belarusian (0.10%). The Russian speech of many residents has characteristics of surzhyk ,

1485-751: The Ukrainian government claimed ownership of the Donetsk Railway and the land its serves. All its affiliated companies under the control of the Ukraininian government were transferred to the temporary administration of either Southern Ukrainian Railways or Cisdnieper Railways . The Donetsk Railway administrative division consists of three railway transportation directorates all located in Lyman : Previously, two other directorates also existed: The main railway hubs of Donetsk railway are: Because of

1540-435: The administrative center of the oblast. Bakhmut was designated a city of regional significance until 2020, when the designation was abolished. In January 2022, it had an estimated population of 71,094. Bakhmut was originally founded in the 16th century as a minor border post on the southern border of the Russian state. Its population grew in the early 18th century, and it served as the capital of Slavo-Serbia (1753–1764),

1595-512: The autumn of 1705, Bakhmut became one of the centers of the Bulavin Rebellion . A detachment of Don Cossacks headed by Ataman Kondraty Bulavin captured the Bakhmut salt mines and occupied the city until they were defeated and the city retaken by government troops. According to official Soviet sources, the government forces "brutally" suppressed the revolution and Bakhmut was completely destroyed. From 1708 to 22 April 1725, Bakhmut

1650-415: The capital town of Bakhmut was fortified. The settlers were divided into two military regiments, led by major generals Rajko Preradović and Jovan Šević (also known as Ivan Šević). The Serb officers like Preradović and Šević and their families went on to become wealthy landowners. The Serb settlers had hostile relations with the local Ukrainian population, who made up the majority of the population of

1705-420: The city by Russian and Wagner forces had surfaced. By 25 May, Wagner had begun withdrawing from the city to be replaced by regular Russian troops. On June 4, Yevgeny Prigozhin conceded that Ukrainian forces still controlled parts of the city along the T0504 highway. Bakhmut has a humid continental climate ( Dfb bordering on Dfa ). Bakhmut's population has continuously declined in recent years, with

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1760-531: The city council voted to restore the city's former name of Bakhmut. The final decision was made by the Verkhovna Rada on 4 February 2016, and the city returned to its original name. The Russian government, as well as Russian state media, have continued to refer to the town as Artyomovsk , especially in military contexts. During the Russian invasion of Ukraine , Bakhmut became a frontline city in May, and

1815-657: The city had 64 industrial enterprises, which employed 1,075 workers. In 1905, after the release of the October Manifesto , an antisemitic pogrom took place in Bakhmut, killing and wounding several Jewish residents of the city. In April 1918, after the collapse of the Russian Empire , troops loyal to the Ukrainian People's Republic took control of Bakhmut. Later, it was captured by White movement soldiers led by Pyotr Krasnov , who were eventually defeated by Soviet forces. From 1920 to 1925, Bakhmut

1870-444: The city into "burned ruins". By early March 2023, Russian forces had not taken Bakhmut, but were continuing to press the attack, and hoped to complete their encirclement of the city. On 4 March, the deputy mayor of the city said that 4,000 civilians remained in Bakhmut and were living in shelters with no access to water, gas or electricity. On 20 May, Russia claimed to have fully taken Bakhmut; however, Ukraine has denied this. At

1925-535: The city. Local military units defended the city for months, repelling separatist assaults over the course of the Battle of Artemivsk . Ukrainian government forces fully recaptured the city on 7 July 2014, ending the battle. On 15 May 2015, Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko signed a bill into law that started a six-month period for the removal of communist monuments and the mandatory renaming of settlements with names related to communism . On 23 September 2015,

1980-566: The collapse of the empire, two revolutions and six presidents." He has "only once" been accused of corruption . He has been criticized for his conduct during the 2014 battle of Artemivsk during which he fled the city, but in September 2019, when he held a city council session in the Ukrainian language for the first time, it was considered a "historic event" for Bakhmut. Bakhmut is the administrative center of Bakhmut urban hromada , one of

2035-631: The conflict. On 28 May 2016, rail employees of the Donetsk People's Republic in Yasynuvata demonstrated against not being paid by the Government of Ukraine . On 28 July 2016, it was admitted that the protests were legitimate and the government owed the workers back pay. This involved a process of restructuring, an issue that the Ukrainian government is still trying to resolve. A spokesperson stated that all personnel are still considered by

2090-465: The death rate (535) significantly higher than the birth rate (187) in 2017. In January 2022 (the last estimate of the city's population before the Russian invasion of Ukraine ), the estimated population of Bakhmut was 75,900. The majority of Bakhmut's residents are ethnic Ukrainians (69.4%), with a large minority of ethnic Russians (27.5%). Many of the latter group are descendants of migrants who arrived in Bakhmut during industrialization efforts in

2145-537: The entrance to the tunnel, suffocating the remaining people trapped inside. The exact number of dead is unclear, and records of the Jewish death toll differ: Soviet documents reported a number of about 3,000, while the German occupation authorities recorded 1,200 victims. The city was eventually liberated by the Red Army on 5 September 1943. In 1990, Oleksiy Reva  [ uk ] became mayor of Bakhmut during

2200-437: The former land of Slavo-Serbia and the similar colony New Serbia , people with Serbian surnames can still be found. The settlers named many settlements in the colony after places from their homes back in the Balkans. In June 2000, amid celebrations of the 250th anniversary of Serb migration to Russia, there were efforts to make establish relations between the Ukrainian settlements and the settlements they had been named for in

2255-451: The founding of Slavo-Serbia, a similar but separate colony called New Serbia was created in 1752. By the decree of the Senate of May 29, 1753, the free lands of this area were offered for settlement to Serbs , Romanians , Bulgarians , Greeks and other Balkan peoples of Orthodox Christian denomination to ensure frontier protection and development of this sparsely inhabited part of

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2310-505: The imprisoned Jews. A few residents risked their lives to rescue some Jewish children, a feat for which they would later receive the title of Righteous Among the Nations from Israel . The Artemivsk massacre took place on 11–12 January 1942, when Sonderkommando 4b of Einsatzgruppe C led thousands of Jews into a mineshaft in an alabaster mine, where they shot into the crowd, killing several people. The soldiers then bricked up

2365-421: The interior areas of the Soviet Union. On 31 October 1941, Nazi German troops began their occupation of Artemivsk. On 19 November, the occupation authorities issued a decree forcing the remaining local Jews to register at the local commandant's office and wear armbands marking them as Jewish . On 9 January 1942, under the pretext of needing to gather in one place for relocation, Artemivsk's Jewish population

2420-474: The last years of the Soviet period. In the 1991 Ukrainian independence referendum , the overwhelming majority of Bakhmut residents voted for independence from the Soviet Union. In January 1999, a charitable Jewish foundation in the city, as well as the Artemivsk city council and a winery that had opened on the site in 1952, inaugurated a memorial to commemorate the victims of the 1942 mass murder. The memorial

2475-497: The least bad option." He said that most residents of the city considered themselves "people of the Donbas " first and foremost, and that while they valued autonomy, separatist sentiments were extremely rare. Oleksiy Reva  [ uk ] , who became mayor of Bakhmut in 1990 during the last years of the Soviet period, has become the longest-running mayor of any city in Ukraine. Ukrainian media, describing Reva, said "He survived

2530-453: The newly created Novorossiya Governorate . Decades after the liquidation of the colony, the settlement of Pidhirne, which had been set up in the colony in 1753 was renamed to Slovianoserbsk , a name which it still holds today as a modern town. The Serbs who settled these areas have since largely assimilated with the local Ukrainians over the centuries, but in Ukraine's modern Luhansk , Donetsk , and Kirovohrad regions which cover

2585-411: The region. The Russian government plans had anticipated that each regiment would contain 2,000 men, but by 1764, the total number of military men was at most 1,264. As a result, the two regiments were merged into the Bakhmut hussar regiment  [ uk ; ru ] with its headquarters in Bakhmut, and that same year in 1764, Slavo-Serbia was abolished completely, and its territory transferred to

2640-523: The total output of salt in the Russian Empire. Bakhmut saw industrialization during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the early 1870s, German industrialist Edmund Farke built alabaster , brick and tile factories in the city. In 1878, the Kharkiv-Bakhmut-Popasna railroad was constructed. Streets were paved in Bakhmut in 1900. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the city began to develop metal-working industry. By 1909,

2695-505: Was assigned to the first Azov Governorate . On 29 May 1719, it became the administrative center of Bakhmut Province within Azov Governorate. From 1753 until the colony's abolition, it was the administrative center of Slavo-Serbia , a short-lived territory that was settled by thousands of colonists from the Balkans , predominantly Serbs . Bakhmut was fortified, to serve the colony's purpose of frontier protection. In 1764,

2750-420: Was built into a rock face in the old mine where water collects and was named the "Wailing Wall" for the murdered Jews of the city. In April 2014, at the beginning of the war in Donbas , pro-Russian rebels led by Igor Bezler and belonging to the organization Donetsk People's Republic claimed the city of Artemivsk as part of their territory. As the rebels entered the city, mayor Oleksiy Reva temporarily fled

2805-404: Was gathered in the city park, where they were forced to hand over all their valuable possessions, then were locked in the cellar of a former NKVD building. They were locked in the "freezing" cellar for three days without food or water. During this period, according to Haaretz , local residents threw lumps of snow through the windows in an attempt to provide some sort of drinkable water to

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2860-463: Was largely destroyed, with most of its population having fled, and what remained being placed under Russian occupation. Near the city, archaeologists have discovered a Neolithic -era flint processing workshop, excavated ancient burial grounds from the Copper Age and Bronze Age , and discovered stone baba sculptures associated with nomads from the ninth-to-twelfth century. Although there

2915-534: Was regularly shelled by Russian forces. In May 2022, according to local authorities, an estimated 20,000 people remained in the city. It became a major battle of the war, attracting worldwide attention due to the level of destruction in the city and the numbers of casualties on both sides. According to the Associated Press in October 2022, "taking Bakhmut would rupture Ukraine's supply lines and open

2970-400: Was the administrative center of the newly created Donets Governorate of the Ukrainian SSR . In 1923, there were many enterprises in Bakhmut, including the "Victory of Labor" factory that made nails and spikes, the "Blyskavka" ("Lightning") factory that produced agriculture tools, as well as brick, tile, and alabaster factories, and a shoe factory. In 1922, to help rebuild the salt industry,

3025-538: Was the site of the Artemivsk massacre of Soviet Jews by Nazi Germany. During the beginning of the war in Donbas between the independent Ukrainian government and pro-Russian separatists, the city was the site of the battle of Artemivsk in 2014. During the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine which commenced in February 2022, Bakhmut was the site of a major battle between Russian and Ukrainian forces. The city

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