Soledar
Соледар
City
The Holy Transfiguration Church of Soledar and surrounding buildings, pictured in April 2022
The Holy Transfiguration Church of Soledar and surrounding buildings, pictured in April 2022
Flag of Soledar
Flag
Coat of arms of Soledar
Coat of arms
Soledar is located in Donetsk Oblast
Soledar
Soledar
Soledar is located in Ukraine
Soledar
Soledar
Coordinates: 48°41′43″N 38°04′03″E / 48.69528°N 38.06750°E / 48.69528; 38.06750
Country Ukraine
Oblast Donetsk Oblast
Raion Bakhmut Raion
HromadaSoledar urban hromada
FoundationLast quarter of the 17th century
Urban-type settlement status1965
Area
 • Total14.108 km2 (5.447 sq mi)
Elevation
100 m (300 ft)
Population
 (January 2022)
 • Total10,490
 • Estimate 
(2023)
0
 • Density740/km2 (1,900/sq mi)
Postal code
84545–84548
Area code+380 6274
KOATUU1420910800

Soledar (Ukrainian: Соледар, IPA: [soɫeˈdɑr]; Russian: Соледар, IPA: [səlʲɪˈdar]; lit. 'gift of salt'),[1] is a destroyed settlement in Bakhmut Raion, Donetsk Oblast, eastern Ukraine. Situated in the traditionally industrial Donbas region, Soledar is located 18 km (11 mi) from the city of Bakhmut, 40 km (25 mi) from Sloviansk, 78 km (48 mi) from Donetsk, and 580 km (360 mi) from Kyiv.[2][3]

From January 2023 on, Soledar and the surrounding area has been occupied by Russia as part of their Donetsk People's Republic.[4]

History

During the second half of the 17th century, the Don Cossacks settled in the region of Donbas, building a village at the site what is now known as of Soledar and naming it Brіantsіvka (Ukrainian: Брянцівка, Russian: Брянцовка).[5][6] Salt mining on an industrial scale began in the settlement in 1881,[7] by which time it was part of the Russian Empire.[1] Over the following years, the scale of salt mining increased, and hundreds of workers came to work in the mines, and settle in the area.[6]

In 1925, during the Soviet period, several mining villages in the area were administratively merged into a new village, named Karlo-Libknekhtovsk[8] after the German socialist Karl Liebknecht.[9][10] During World War II, Karlo-Libnekhtovsk was occupied by Nazi Germany starting in October 1941. Soviet partisans sabotaged the mines and factories as to not let the Nazis take advantage of them. The village was eventually liberated by the Soviet Red Army in September 1943.[8] The salt mines were later restored and returned to functionality.[6] In 1965, Karlo-Libknekhtovsk received the status of urban-type settlement.[1]

In July 1991, Karlo-Libknekhtovsk changed its name to Soledar.[6] This name literally means "a gift of salt" in the Russian language,[1] reflecting its prominent salt-mining industry.[11] Around 2500 local people, approximately 1 in 4 of the settlement's population, were employed either in the salt mine, or related industries.[12]

Russo-Ukrainian War

2014 - War in Donbas

In February 2014, the removal of pro-Russian Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych as a result of Euromaidan caused a backlash in southern and eastern Ukraine. In mid-April 2014, local pro-Russian militias, refusing to recognise the new government, took control of swathes of settlements across Donbas, including Soledar, which they wanted to separate from Ukraine as the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics. Soledar would remain under the control of pro-Russian rebels for around 3 months, without being a central theatre of events, as nearby Sloviansk, and Donetsk.[13] On 21 July 2014, Ukrainian forces retook control of the settlement, without active hostilities reported.[14][15]

In August 2014, Soledar was used as the base for the identification team and OSCE observers dealing with the MH17 plane crash due to its proximity to the site.[16][17][18]

2015-2022 - Aftermath, Peace

On 14 January 2015, the body of Ivan Reznichenko, a local council politician missing since June 2014, was found. The press service of political party Batkivshchyna said the criminals who killed him, who were now in custody, had been ordered to do so by the pro-Russian separatists, while they were in control of Soledar.[19]

From 2015 to early 2022, Soledar was peaceful, and not a theatre of conflict. Events of 2014 contributed to Soledar's population fall over the past few decades, from 14,600 in 1971 to 10,490 in 2022.[20]

2022 - Russian invasion of Ukraine

A ruined building in Soledar in September 2022

During the full-scale 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, on 28 May 2022, it was reported that a Russian missile had hit the Artemsil salt plant in Soledar. The company's facilities and equipment were destroyed, its building left in ruins. It was the first time the company had closed since WWII.[21] By the end of the month, Artemsil was forced to stop production due to constant Russian shelling.[6][12]

In July 2022, France 24 filed a report from Soledar, entitled "Ukraine frontline town just wants 'peace and silence", reporting on a Soledar under constant shelling, largely destroyed, with a population down to around 2000, in a dire living situation. "There are no more local authorities, no police, no doctors, no pharmacy. Everyone has left. We've been abandoned," Tetyana (a local resident) said.[11] The Battle of Soledar began in early August, with Russian forces capturing much of the eastern half of Soledar by September, although being stalled afterward.[22] By August 2022, Soledar was estimated as "90 percent destroyed".[23]

Starting on 27 December 2022, the Russian Wagner Group began a breakthrough attempt to take the settlement and return it to the control of the Donetsk People Republic, which by then had been annexed by Russia.[24][25] The battle descended into heavy attritional fighting,[2] and was called the "most bloody battle" of the war at the time.[3] On January 11, 2023, after days of uncertainty as to whether Russia controlled the settlement, it was reported that Russia had definitively secured control of Soledar.[26]

By the end of fighting, the settlement was almost entirely destroyed, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying that "barely any walls in Soledar remain[ed] standing".[27] According to Donetsk Oblast governor Pavlo Kyrylenko, of the pre-invasion population of 10,490,[28] only "559 civilians including 15 children" remained in the settlement by 13 January.[27] Ukraine evacuated the remaining civilians of Soledar at the start of January, as Russia's Wagner forces moved in.[29]

2023 - Russian control

From January 11, 2023, Soledar has been under Russian control. Following its capture, in late January 2023 Denis Pushilin, head of the Russian occupation administration of Donetsk Oblast, made an official visit to Soledar, giving a brief comment on the situation there. As of December 2023, this is the last reported official visit there.[30] Russia has reported periodic Ukrainian attacks on Soledar, which have been "repelled". The settlement remains in ruins, and is believed to be unpopulated, or near unpopulated.[31]

Significance of the Russian capture of Soledar

In January 2023, with Russia's capture of Soledar expected, analysts were divided over the value of the settlement, with some stating that a Russian victory in Soledar would be "pyrrhic at best".[32] However the capture of Soledar, Russia's first territorial gain since July 2022, gave Russia both a morale-boosting victory and territorial gain, arresting the pattern of Russian military reverses in the second half of 2022. Russian forces used Soledar as a staging post to press onto Bakhmut, which they took several months later, in June.[33][34][1][23]

Science

A scientist in the mine

From November 1977, the Artyomovsk Scintillation Detector has been located in Soledar salt mine, operating at a depth of 570 metres (1,870 ft). Its main purpose is to detect neutrino radiation from collapsing stars.[35][36] This location inside the salt mine was chosen because the "natural-radioactivity background in salt is approximately 300 times lower than in ordinary rock," thus minimizing radiation noise.[35] From early 2022, the Detector has not been in operation.

In 2000, a Ukrainian scientist proposed using Soledar's salt mines as a nuclear waste disposal site, believing that the inert environment would be useful. However residents of Soledar and the surroundng area, including Bakhmut, opposed the proposal, holding rallies and writing letters to authorities. Eventually, regional authorities said that the plan would not be implemented.[6]

On 15 March 2005, the Donetsk Oblast Council gave the Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences the right to use 0.63 hectares of area in the mine and the station for research.[37] At this time, the station had 11 employees.[37]

Geography

Lakes

View of the lakes and the landscape near Soledar

There is a group of lakes on the edge of Soledar, some with a diameter of 100 metres (330 ft). Some of them have an "abnormally warm temperature" that can reach up to 40 °C (104 °F). Some are freshwater, while others are salty to the point that a person cannot dive deep, and gets pushed upwards.[6]

Subordinate settlements

The Sil railway station

Sil (Ukrainian: Сіль; Russian: Соль, romanized: Sol, both literally translated as "Salt") is a settlement about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) northwest of Soledar proper.[38] Formerly an urban-type settlement of its own, in 1999, the Verkhovna Rada officially declared it administratively subordinate to Soledar.[39] It is most notable for its large railway station, which served as an essential hub station for shipping out Soledar's salt. The last shipment of Soledar salt went out in May 2022.[40][12]

The Dekonska (Ukrainian: Деконська) railway station is another formerly separate settlement, and is located 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from Soledar proper,[41] in the southern outskirts of Soledar's administrative territory.[42] In 1926, its population included over 200 Volga Germans.[43]

As Soledar itself, the surrounding areas now lie in ruins.[2]

Salt mine

Salt mine entrance
A package of Artemsil salt
Soledar salt mine concert hall.jpg

Soledar's primary industry was the mining and processing of salt. Salt company Artemsil, founded in 1976, was the former owner of Soledar's salt industry, and said that the salt deposits of Soledar are "almost inexhaustible.... in 300 years of exploitation, the salt reserves have only decreased by one percent."[6] There were estimated to be 5 billion tonnes of salt reserves in the Soledar salt mines, with the Soledar salt mine regarded as the largest salt mine in Europe. However Artemsil is now defunt, and the Soledar salt mine has not been in operation since May 2022.[20][44][45][46][47]

In 2021, the mine provided around 95% of Ukraine's salt.[20] Outside of Ukraine, the company exported salt to 22 countries, mostly in the former Soviet sphere, but also about 40 percent to Europe.[29][48] Russia had been an important export destination in particular, with Artemsil having a 24 percent share of the Russian salt market until January 2015, when Russia suspended imports from the company due to the war in Donbas.[49][48] The Soledar salt mine continued operations until early 2022.

In early 2022, with the situation deteriorating in Soledar, Artemsil evacuated some of their workers, others left Soledar by their own means. Production of Artemsil salt stopped entirely in May 2022, and after exixting supplies were exhausted, by summer of 2022 Artemsil salt was no longer to be found on shop shelves. In winter of 2022, the shafts of one of the mines were destroyed in the fighting, making the mine, at a depth of around 260 metres (850 ft) below the ground, inaccessible.[29]

Wagner head Evgeniy Prigozhin described the Soledar salt mine as: “a network of underground cities…it not only [can hold] a big group of people at a depth of 80-100 metres, but tanks and infantry fighting vehicles can also move about”. However Artemsil, said that the use of the mines for military purposes was unlikely as the shafts are deep and narrow and the tunnels too deep to lower artillery into them.[29]

Events and Tourism

Soledar's salt-mining industry created an "underground city" of caves, and tunnels[45] that Deutsche Welle described as a "magnet for tourists".[10] Guided tours went to as deep as 200–300 metres (660–980 ft), with attractions including sculptures made of salt crystals, a museum, and a church.[10]

In 2004 and 2006, one of the salt mine caves hosted classical music concerts by the Donetsk Symphony Orchestra underground.[45] In September 2020, the same cave hosted a soccer (football) match.[20] [45] Soledar salt mine was also the venue for the first ever underground hot air balloon flight, listed in the Guinness Book of Records.[6]

Since the early 1990s,[6] the chambers have also contained "speleosanatoriums":[10] rooms made of salt that attempt to "recreate the allegedly restorative conditions of salt mines",[49] where 100 patients with respiratory diseases are treated.[10] This practice is part of the controversial halotherapy industry, in which it is believed that the inhalation of salt dust is a "miracle cure for respiratory illnesses".[49]

All tourism activities related to Soledar's salt mines were stopped in early 2022.[10] A spokesperson for Ukraine’s Donetsk regional state administration said, in early 2023, that three of the main four caves of the mine have been damaged. After the Russian capture of the city, DNR head Pushilin, in his late January 2023 visit, stated that the salt mines were "damaged and difficult to descend into". Pushilin has pledged that the salt mines will, in time, be restored, however there have been no further updates on this. There is no timetable for the resumption of tourist activites in the mines.[30][29]

Other industries

There was also an abundance of gypsum in Soledar, which was previously mined, as it was useful for construction materials.[50] The Germany-based company Knauf Gips Donbas owned a factory in Soledar that produced plasterboard, and into which they had invested tens of millions of dollars. The factory closed in early 2022.[51]

Demographics

Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1971 14,600[41]—    
1991 12,200[9]−0.89%
2001 13,182[52]+0.78%
2012 11,799[53]−1.00%
YearPop.±% p.a.
2022 10,490[28]−1.17%
2023 (January) 550[54]−94.76%
20230 [29]—    

The settlement's population has fallen over the past few decades, from 14,600 in 1971[41] to 10,490 in 2022, and only an estimated 550 as of early 2023.[28]

Native language as of the Ukrainian Census of 2001: Ukrainian 60.10%, Russian 39.43%, Armenian 0.11%, Belarusian 0.09%, Romani 0.05%, Bulgarian 0.02%, Moldovan 0.02%, and one person each for Greek, Karaim, Polish and Romanian (0.01%).[55]

Notable people

Notes

    References

    1. 1 2 3 4 5 Goncharenko, Roman (11 January 2023). "Soledar would be a strategic victory for Russia". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
    2. 1 2 3 Bailey, Riley; Williams, Madison; Philipson, Layne; Stepanenko, Kateryna; Barros, George; Hird, Karolina; Clark, Mason (12 January 2023). "Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, January 12, 2023". Institute for the Study of War. Archived from the original on 13 January 2023. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
    3. 1 2 "Why the fight for Soledar has become the "most bloody battle" of Russia's war in Ukraine". CBS News. 12 January 2023. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
    4. ↑ "Ukraine war: Ukraine admits pulling out of front line town of Soledar". BBC News. 19 January 2023. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
    5. ↑ Katchanovski, Ivan; Kohut, Zenon E.; Nebesio, Bohdan Y.; Yurkevich, Myroslav. (2013) "Donets Basin" (Donbas), pp. 135–136 in: Historical Dictionary of Ukraine. Lanham : The Scarecrow Press, Inc. ISBN 081087847X
    6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Dorosh, Svitlana (12 January 2023). "Соледар. Цікаві факти про місто, бій за яке називають божевіллям". BBC (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 23 January 2023.
    7. ↑ Picheta, Rob; Lister, Tim; Voitovych, Olga (13 January 2023). "Why Russia is so intent on capturing the town of Soledar". CNN. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
    8. 1 2 "Карло-Лібкнехтівськ, Артемівський район, Донецька область" (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 6 September 2023.
    9. 1 2 "Карло-Либкнехтовск". Great Encyclopedic Dictionary.
    10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Бои за Соледар: что нужно знать о пригороде Бахмута" [Battles for Soledar: what you need to know about the suburb of Bakhmut]. Deutsche Welle.
    11. 1 2 "Ukraine frontline town just wants 'peace and silence'". France24. 7 July 2022. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
    12. 1 2 3 "Artemsil salt from legendary Soledar on sale to mark 1st anniversary of full-scale invasion". 21 February 2023. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
    13. ↑ "'Casualties' in Ukraine gun battles". BBC News. 13 April 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
    14. ↑ "Ukrainian troops take control of three settlements in Donetsk region". Archived from the original on 4 June 2016. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
    15. ↑ Ragozin, Leonid (16 April 2014). "Vladimir Putin is Accidentally Bringing Eastern and Western Ukraine Together". The New Republic.
    16. ↑ "Recovery of remains 'biggest day': OSCE". Special Broadcasting Service. 2 August 2014.
    17. ↑ "Malaysia Airlines MH17 crash: More remains recovered from site, says Netherlands". The Straits Times. August 2014.
    18. ↑ "MH17 crash mission to be unarmed for now: Dutch PM". 2 August 2014.
    19. ↑ "Знайшли тіло вбитого сепаратистами депутата від Батьківщини". Ukrainska Pravda. 16 January 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
    20. 1 2 3 4 MacDonald, Alistair; Pyrozhok, Oksana. "Giant Ukrainian Salt Mine Takes Center Stage in War". The Wall Street Journal.
    21. ↑ "Окупанти завдали удару по заводу Артемсіль" [The occupiers attacked the Artemsil plant] (in Ukrainian). 28 May 2022.
    22. ↑ "Russian attacks grind on in eastern Ukraine as Bakhmut is 'destroyed'". CNBC. 10 December 2022. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
    23. 1 2 "How a Ukrainian salt town was laid to waste in Russia's desperate push for Bakhmut". 12 November 2023. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
    24. ↑ "Soledar Situation Unclear as Wagner Group's Claims of Control in Dispute". 11 January 2023. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
    25. ↑ "Ukraine war: Who controls Soledar and why it matters". BBC News. Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. 11 January 2023. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
    26. ↑ "Ukraine confirms that Russia has taken control of disputed town of Soledar". MSN. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
    27. 1 2 "Russia claims control of salt mine town Soledar". bbc.com. 13 January 2023. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
    28. 1 2 3 Чисельність наявного населення України на 1 січня 2022. ukrstat.gov.ua. p. 16
    29. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Ukraine: The Battle for Soledar's Salt Mines". 9 March 2023. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
    30. 1 2 "Head of Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine's Donetsk says visited Soledar". Reuters. 23 January 2023. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
    31. ↑ "Russia claims repelling Ukraine's 'offensive operations' in direction of Soledar". 12 May 2023. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
    32. ↑ "'Hellish' battle for Soledar symbolises state of Russia's war in Ukraine". the Guardian. 13 January 2023. Archived from the original on 13 January 2023. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
    33. ↑ "Ukraine says that its forces have retreated from Soledar after an intense battle". 25 January 2023. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
    34. ↑ "With the loss of Soledar, Ukrainian positions in Bakhmut jeopardized". The Kyiv Independent. 22 January 2023. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
    35. 1 2 Antonenko, A. G.; Borshchevsky, V. P.; Enikeev, R. I.; Ochkas, O. V.; Ryazhskaya, Olga Georgievna; Chernyshov, L. V.; Yarosh, A. P.; Iarosh, N. A. (1 January 2018). "Forty Years to the Artemovsk Scintillation Detector for Neutrinos". Physics of Atomic Nuclei. 81 (1): 88–94. Bibcode:2018PAN....81...88A. doi:10.1134/S1063778818010040. ISSN 1562-692X. S2CID 255235707. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
    36. ↑ Ashikhmin, V. V.; Enikeev, R. I.; Pokropivny, A. V.; Ryazhskaya, O. G.; Ryasny, V. G. (11 December 2013). "Search for neutrino radiation from collapsing stars with the Artyomovsk scintillation detector". Bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences: Physics. 77 (11): 1333–1335. Bibcode:2013BRASP..77.1333A. doi:10.3103/S1062873813110051. ISSN 1062-8738. S2CID 255431778.
    37. 1 2 "GEOnews - Украина. Каменную соль Артемовска РАН будет использовать для исследований" (in Russian). Retrieved 10 September 2023.
    38. ↑ Subramaniam, Tara; Vales, Leinz; Sangal, Aditi; Hayes, Mike; Hammond, Elise; Chowdhury, Maureen (16 January 2023). "Russian mercenary group claims to capture train station west of Soledar". CNN. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
    39. ↑ "Про зміну меж міста Соледар Артемівської міської ради Донецької області" [About the change of boundaries of the city of Soledar of the Artemiv city council of the Donetsk region]. Законодавство України (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 10 September 2018. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
    40. ↑ Pavlysh, Oleksii (23 May 2022). "Because of the war, Artemsil has shut down: Ukraine will have to import more salt from abroad". Ukrainska Pravda. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
    41. 1 2 3 "Карло-Либкнехтовск". Great Soviet Encyclopedia.
    42. ↑ Bailey, Riley; Hird, Karolina; Stepanenko, Kateryna; Mappes, Grace; Williams, Madison; Philipson, Layne; Kagan, Frederick W. (4 January 2023). "Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, January 4, 2023". Institute for the Study of War. Retrieved 11 February 2023. Russian sources claimed that Russian forces captured three unspecified former Ukrainian defensive positions south of Soledar and seized the Deksonska [sic] railway station on the southern outskirts of Soledar.
    43. ↑ Diesendorf, V. "ДЕКОНСКАЯ". In Aumann, W.; Baumgärtner, V.; Brett, W.; Bugaj, N.; Ehrlich, A.; Petrov, Ju.; Tschebotarjowa, V.; Wardenburg, N. (eds.). Die Deutschen Russlands: Siedlungen und Siedlungsgebiete Lexikon (PDF) (in Russian and German).
    44. ↑ Meldrum, Andrew. "Battle rages in Ukraine town; Russia shakes up its military". Retrieved 21 January 2023.
    45. 1 2 3 4 "Take a look inside the incredible 'underground city' carved from salt that Russia and Ukraine are battling over".
    46. ↑ "Russian mercenary firm claims strategic Ukrainian town of Soledar, control unclear". Retrieved 10 January 2023.
    47. ↑ Trofimov, Yaroslav (11 January 2023). "Russia Claims Success in Ukraine's Soledar as Moscow Names New War Commander". WSJ. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
    48. 1 2 "Russia bans salt imports from state Ukrainian firm". Reuters. 26 January 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
    49. 1 2 3 Chapple, Amos (11 January 2023). "Salt of the Earth: Deep Inside Eastern Ukraine's Massive Soledar Mines". Retrieved 21 January 2023.
    50. ↑ Thorpe, Andrew. "Why the salt mines of Soledar, a 'network of underground cities', are prized by Russian mercenaries". Retrieved 21 January 2023.
    51. ↑ Eros, Igor (17 August 2006). "Knauf launching second plasterboard plant in Ukraine". Kyiv Post. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
    52. ↑ "Розподіл населення за рідною мовою на ukrcensus.gov.ua" [Distribution of the population by native language at ukrcensus.gov.ua]. Archived from the original on 31 July 2014. Retrieved 16 March 2014.
    53. ↑ "Чисельність наявного населення України на 1 січня 2013 року. Державна служба статистики України. Київ, 2013. стор.50" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 June 2022.
    54. ↑ "Ukraine forces retain control of Soledar, governor says". 14 January 2023.
    55. ↑ "Databank". All-Ukrainian Population Census.
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