Torez

Torez (Ukrainian: Торез) or Chystiakove (Чистякове) is a city of regional significance in Donetsk Oblast of Ukraine. Much of the city's economy relies on mining industries, despite a recent drop in the number of employed miners. In 2012, the city's population was 81,761, down from a 1970 peak of about 120,000.

Chystiakove (Torez)

Чистякове (Торез)
City of regional significance
Chystiakove
Flag
Seal
Chystiakove (Torez)
Chystiakove (Torez)
Coordinates: 48°1′19″N 38°37′35″E
Country Ukraine
Oblast Donetsk Oblast
Founded1778
Area
 • Total105.8 km2 (40.8 sq mi)
Population
 (2013)
 • Total57,998
ClimateDfb
Websitetorez.dn.ua

Pro-Russian separatists took control of Torez in June 2014.[1] On July 17, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crashed near the city.

Torez was renamed from Chystyakove (Ukrainian: Чистякове) in 1964 in honor of French Communist Party leader Maurice Thorez, who died that year. The Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament), although Ukrainian authorities have no control over the city, renamed it back to Chystiakove in May 2016 due to Ukrainian decommunization laws.

History

The region was settled in 1778 at the confluence of the Sevostyanivka and Orlova Rivers (which drain into the Mius River) by runaway serfs from southern Russia and Ukraine. By 1800 the settlement, with 225 residents, was known as Sloboda Alekseevka after a son of landowner and founder S. Leonov.

By the 1860s the town, now known as Chystyakove for a merchant and owner of a local manor, was a coal-mining hub. In 1875, two mining companies were founded: Chystyakovs'ke (which operated two coal mines) and Oleksiivs'ke, which was renamed Nadiya in 1907. The Chystyakove mines produced 4.7 million pounds of coal in 1909, and 76.8 million pounds by 1916.

In 1924 the Chystyakove mining industry had 142 settlements, with a total of 44,679 residents. Eight years later the settlements became a town, and the town's ten coal-mining quarries were incorporated into the Chystyakovugol Industrial Trust a year after that.

During the 1940s, the town had three administrative districts:

  • Chervona Zirka (Red Star)
  • Pivdenna Grupa (Southern Group)
  • Chystyakove Station (Railway)

During World War II, Chystyakove was occupied by the German Army from October 31, 1941 to September 2, 1943. In 1964 Chystyakove was renamed Torez in honor of Maurice Thorez, the longtime leader of the French Communist Party who was a coal miner.

In mid-April 2014 pro-Russian separatists captured several towns in Donetsk Oblast,[2][3] including Chystyakove in June 2014.[1] On 23 May 2014 a pro-Ukrainian militia endorsed by Oleh Lyashko had killed one pro-Russian separatist and left another badly wounded amidst a separatists takeover of city hall.[4] On July 17 Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam, was hit by a missile and crashed near Torez; all 298 people aboard were killed.[5]

On 12 May 2016 the Ukrainian parliament renamed the town to Chystyakove.[6]

Torez is a center of the Ukrainian coal industry. Its population is nearly 70,000, or 822 persons per square kilometer.

Demographics

As of the 2001 Ukrainian census:[7]

Ethnicity
  • Ukrainians: 50.8%
  • Russians: 45.1%
  • Belarusians: 1.3%
  • Tatars: 1.3%
  • Armenians: 0.2%
  • Greeks: 0.1%

Transportation
Mykolaiv and Pioneerska Streets in central Chystyakove

Torez's transport system consists of thirty-one routes served by buses and taxis and links to the cities of Snizhne and Shakhtarsk. The Luhansk-Donetsk Highway runs for nine kilometers through the center of the city. The bus station (vulytsia Popovycha) provides service to Donetsk, Kharkiv and other cities in eastern Ukraine. The city has three major railway stations: Chystyakove (vulytsia Vokzalna), Rozsypne and Pelahiyivka. Two stations serve electric commuter trains: Dronove in Pelahiyivka and Voskresenska in central Torez.

Economy
Donbas mining monument
Children's Creativity Palace

Torez's major company is the state-owned Chystyakove Anthracite, which specializes in coal mining. The company controls a number of mines and production facilities, including the Progress Mine, the Lutugin and Volhynian Mine Administrations and the Chystyakove factory. Other employers include the Chystyakoveelectrical and alloy factories, the Vuhleresurs Company's Terra mine, the State Penal Department and the Chystyakove food-testing factory.

Neighborhoods
Progress coal mine

Torez's center includes Pionerska, Nikolaeva, Engels, Syzrantsev and 50 Years of the USSR Streets, Gagarin Avenue and Boulevard Illich. Neighborhoods are numbered one through four (Engels Street), 30th Anniversary of Victory, G and Red Star (Chervona Zirka).

Central Village (Ukrainian: Cелище центральне in southeastern Torez was one of the first settlements in Chystyakove, which became a city in 1932. It has an acting school and two kindergartens.

Shanghai, a small residential area also in southeastern Torez, was built in 1946 by Hungarian prisoners of war and consists of seven-story apartment buildings. In addition to Torez, its city council governs two towns: Pelahiyivka and Rozsypne.

  • Orthodox Church
  • St. Elias Church
  • Komsomolets Stadium
  • Central Department Store, Ilyich Street
  • Artem Cinema
  • Intersection of Nikolayev and Gagarin Streets
  • Shakhtar Supermarket on Engels Street
  • City Hall
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References
  1. Letters From Donbas, Radio Free Europe (December 11, 2014)
  2. Leonid Ragozin. "Putin Is Accidentally Helping Unite Eastern and Western Ukraine - The New Republic". The New Republic. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  3. "TASS: World - Donbass defenders put WWII tank back into service". TASS. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  4. "Specter of violence in eastern Ukraine keeps voters from polls". KyivPost. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  5. "MH17 Malaysia plane crash: What we know". BBC News. 14 October 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  7. Національний склад та рідна мова населення Донецької області. Розподіл постійного населення за найбільш численними національностями та рідною мовою по міськрадах та районах (in Ukrainian), archived from the original on 2012-11-27
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