Druzhkivka is a city in the north of Donetsk Oblast. It is part of the Kramatorsk-Kostiantynivka metropolitan area in Kramatorsk Raion. It is the administrative center of the Druzhkivka City Community.
It is located on the banks of the Kazenyi and Kryvyi Torets rivers.
As of October 1, 2025, it has been designated a Hero City of Ukraine.
General information
The city of Druzhkivka is located on the northeastern slopes of the Donets Ridge, near the confluence of the Kryvyi Torets and Kazennyi Torets rivers, which are right tributaries of the Siverskyi Donets. According to one legend, a Cossack watchtower once stood at the confluence of these rivers, marking the beginning of settlement in this region.
The first mention of Druzhkivka dates back to 1768.
History Note: This information may contain historical inaccuracies, as it was compiled from various sources and edited by someone who is not a historian or an expert.
The Earliest History The territory of modern-day Druzhkivka was inhabited as far back as prehistoric times. Near modern-day Bilokuzminivka, archaeologists have discovered evidence of early humans, including Neanderthals, who lived here approximately 100,000 years ago. The population’s main activities were hunting and gathering.
In the 4th–2nd millennia BCE, the territory of the modern Druzhkivka region was inhabited by Bronze Age tribes. Near modern-day Druzhkivka, Oleksievo-Druzhkivka, and Bilokuzminivka, burial mounds and graves belonging to the Pit, Catacomb, and Log-House archaeological cultures have been discovered. These peoples engaged in livestock herding, agriculture, and crafts.
In the 1st millennium B.C., the steppe region of Donetsk Oblast became a place of residence and transit for nomadic peoples. At various times, the Cimmerians, Scythians, and Sarmatians lived here. Later, the Huns, Goths, Avars, Khazars, Pechenegs, Torks, and Polovtsians passed through these lands. Some researchers attribute the origins of the names of the Kazennyi Torets and Kryvyi Torets rivers to the Torks.
During the era of Kievan Rus’, the territory of modern Druzhkivka was located in the steppe borderland between the Rus’ principalities and the Polovtsian lands. After the Mongol invasion of the 13th century, the region came under the rule of the Golden Horde and later the Crimean Khanate. For several centuries, the local steppes remained sparsely populated due to the constant threat of Tatar raids.
Important Tatar sakmas—steppe routes used by the Crimean and Nogai Tatars to launch raids on Ukrainian lands and the territories of the Muscovite state—ran through the territory of present-day Donetsk Oblast. The Izyum and Kalmius routes, which played an important role in the region’s military history, passed near present-day Druzhkivka.
Cossack Era Active settlement of the territory of modern-day Druzhkivka began in the late 17th century during the Zaporizhian colonization of the steppes. The lands of the modern city lay on the border between the territories of the Zaporizhian Sich and Sloboda Ukraine. The Izyum and Tor defensive lines, created to protect against Tatar raids, ran nearby.
As they settled the steppe territories, the Zaporizhian Cossacks established winter settlements—small farmsteads and homesteads where Cossack families lived. They engaged in cattle raising, farming, fishing, hunting, and beekeeping. The first permanent settlements gradually emerged in the valleys of the Kryvyi Torets and Kazennyi Torets rivers.
According to historian Dmytro Yavornytskyi, as early as 1696, Cossack winter settlements existed near the Zalizna ravine on the Kryvyi Torets, not far from modern-day Druzhkivka. Later sources mention that in the 17th century, a Zaporizhian Cossack guard post operated in the territory of modern-day Druzhkivka.
Among the oldest settlements in the area were Parshakivka and Druzhkivka. Eighteenth-century documents refer to them as ancient Zaporizhian settlements where guard redoubts and Cossack outposts were located. Their location was strategic, as Tatar trade routes passed nearby, along which raids on Ukrainian lands were carried out.
To monitor the steppe, the Zaporozhian Cossacks established a system of watchposts and redoubts. On high hills, they set up signal “figures”—pyramids made of tarred barrels filled with straw—which were set ablaze whenever Tatar raiding parties appeared. These signals warned the population of danger and allowed them to quickly organize their defense.
In 1768–1769, during the Russo-Turkish War, the region suffered yet another Tatar attack. According to local historical sources, the Zaporozhian Cossacks living in the Druzhkivka area managed to protect their winter quarters and settlements from destruction.
In the second half of the 18th century, the population of the Cossack settlements gradually increased. Ukrainian peasants from the Poltava and Chernihiv regions, fleeing serfdom, moved in among the local Zaporozhian Cossacks to the free lands of the Zaporozhian Cossack Host. In this way, a permanent Ukrainian population of the region took shape.
A winter camp in Zaporizhzhia. Engraving. Late 19th century.
After the end of the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774, the Russian Empire began the final dismantling of the Zaporizhzhia Sich’s autonomy. In 1775, by order of Catherine II, the Sich was destroyed, and the Zaporizhzhia lands were placed under the control of the imperial administration. A significant portion of the Cossacks moved across the Danube or entered Russian service, and the former winter settlements gradually transformed into landlord villages.
Landowner Settlement and the Formation of Villages (1775–mid-19th century)
After the dissolution of the Zaporizhian Sich in 1775, the lands of the former Zaporizhian territories came under the control of the Russian Empire. Vast tracts of land in the steppe region of the Donbas began to be distributed to Russian officers, nobles, officials, and individuals close to the tsarist government. Former Cossack winter quarters and farmsteads were gradually transformed into landowners’ estates and villages.
In 1778, Nikolai Arshenevsky, commander of the Astrakhan Dragoon Regiment, received extensive lands along the Kryvyi Torets River. His holdings included the territories of the former Cossack settlements of Parshakivka and Druzhkivka.
To fulfill the terms of the tsar’s grant, the new owner was required to settle these lands within a few years. Arshenevsky resettled peasants from the Sumy Province of the Kharkiv Governorate to this area. It was then that the village of Druzhkivka began to take shape on the site of the former Cossack farmstead. The settlement arose on the slopes of the Vershok Bezymenny ravine near Kryvyi Torets, in the territory of present-day Oleksievo-Druzhkivka.
On the site of the Zaporizhian settlement of Parshakivka, the village of Parshikovka was formed, which for some time was also called Mykolaivka—presumably in honor of Arshenevsky. The name “Parshikovka” remained in official documents and local tradition for a long time.
During this same period, other settlements of the modern Druzhkivka community also emerged. In 1778, documents from the Azov Governorate mention the settlement of Raiske, which belonged to Premier Major Hryhorii Shydlovskyi.
In 1781, the Church of St. Barbara the Great Martyr was founded in Raisky. Rural life gradually developed around the church, and over time, the settlement became one of the largest in the area.
At the end of the 18th century, documents also mention the village of Oleksiyivka, located on the left bank of the Kryvyi Torets River. Later, it became part of Oleksiyevo-Druzhkivka. The lands surrounding the village belonged to members of the Russian nobility—the Annenkov family.
After the region was definitively brought under the rule of the Russian Empire, serfdom was introduced in the former Zaporizhian lands. For the local population, this meant the loss of personal freedom and subjugation to the landowners. Local historians have noted that after the Cossack era, a long period of hardship began for the region’s peasants.
Despite this, the population of Druzhkivka, Parshikovka, and the surrounding villages grew rapidly. The majority of residents were Ukrainian settlers from Slobozhanshchyna. They brought with them the Ukrainian language, way of life, traditions, and culture. For a long time, the Ukrainian language remained the primary language of communication among the local population.
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a wooden church dedicated to the Archangel Michael and the Arshenevsky manor house were built in Druzhkivka. The church became an important spiritual center for the settlement.
By the early 19th century, the villages of Druzhkivka and Parshikovka were already fairly large settlements. According to the general land survey of the Bakhmut County, more than 700 people lived there. Agriculture and livestock farming remained the backbone of the local economy. Local residents grew rye, wheat, barley, oats, and millet; raised livestock; and engaged in gardening.
The daily life of the population retained distinct Ukrainian characteristics. Peasant houses were built of wood and clay and covered with straw or reeds. Traditional Ukrainian elements predominated in festive attire—embroidered shirts, župans, plachty, and boots. Orthodox holidays, folk songs, and customs played an important role in the lives of the residents.
In the first half of the 19th century, the serf system continued to form the basis of social life. Peasants performed corvée labor, paid taxes, and repeatedly protested against the arbitrariness of the landowners. After the abolition of serfdom in 1861, most peasants received small and infertile land allotments, which did not allow them to lead a normal life.
Dissatisfaction with the reform sparked peasant uprisings. One such incident occurred in Druzhkivka, where local residents attempted to free an arrested peasant, S. Kharkivsky, who had called for defiance of the authorities. The uprising was suppressed by the military.
Despite the difficult living conditions, in the second half of the 19th century, the Druzhkivka region gradually entered a new stage of development. The construction of the railroad and the beginning of industrial development in the Donbas were of decisive importance for the region’s future.
The Post-Reform Period and the Beginnings of Industrial Development After the abolition of serfdom in 1861, Druzhkivka remained a volost village in the Bakhmut County of the Katerynoslav Governorate. The population consisted mainly of Ukrainian peasants who engaged in agriculture, animal husbandry, and crafts. However, as early as the second half of the 19th century, the region’s economic life began to change rapidly under the influence of developments in transportation and industry.
The construction of the Kursk–Kharkiv–Azov Railway was of decisive importance for the region’s further development. In 1869, a railway line was laid through the territory near Druzhkivka, and the Druzhkivka station was established not far from the village. It was the arrival of the railroad that laid the groundwork for the region’s future industrial development.
At the end of the 19th century, the first industrial enterprises and commercial establishments began to appear near the station. The Borisovsky brothers played an important role in the region’s economic development. They owned a brick factory, lime kilns, and a steam mill in Druzhkivka.
The development of local industry is mentioned in the 1893 edition of the Brockhaus–Efron Encyclopedia, which noted: “Near Druzhkivka there is a sugar factory (with an output of 3 million karbovanets), a brick factory, and a steam mill.”