Toretsk (; ) is an industrial city in Bakhmut Raion, Donetsk Oblast, eastern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Toretsk urban hromada. As of January 2022, its population was approximately
It has its origins as the hamlet Shcherbynivka, built during the mid-19th century developments in coal mining in the Donbas region. It developed over the following century with the rise of rail transport. Between 1936–2016, the city was named Dzerzhynsk after Felix Dzerzhinsky, the founder of the Soviet security service Cheka. The city received its current name in 2016, as a result of decommunization laws.
Toretsk has seen fighting and shelling during the War in Donbas, in the first phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War that began in 2014, which has depopulated and heavily damaged the infrastructure of the city over the years. After the year-long Battle of Toretsk during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia captured the city in August 2025. Due to the fighting, the city was ruined and virtually entirely depopulated. Russia calls Toretsk by its pre-2016 name Dzerzhinsk and considers it to be part of the Donetsk People's Republic, which it claims to have annexed.
Geography Toretsk is located on the right bank of the Kryvyi Torets river, which is a tributary of the Kazennyi Torets. It is located in the historical, cultural, and economic Donbas region within eastern Ukraine.
By transport, it is between the railway stations of Fenolnaya about 7 km (urban settlement New York) on the Konstantinovka - Yasinovata line and Magdalinovka about 1 km (settlement Pivnichnoe) on the Konstantinovka - Nikitovka line.
History
18th Century The territory where Toretsk now sits has been inhabited since ancient times, as discovered with archaeological findings. According to Donetsk local historian M. Kulishov, the site of the first documented coal mining in the Donbas is located in Toretsk, in Skelevataya Gully:Skelevataya Gully in Toretsk (formerly Dzerzhinsk) is the site of the first documented coal mining in the Donbas. The discovery of coal in Skelevataya Gully is recorded in documents from the Mining Collegium as 1721. This year went down in history as the year the Donetsk Coal Basin was discovered. Here, 25 miles from Bakhmut, in the Skelevataya gully, under the leadership of the commandant of the Bakhmut fortress, Semyon Chirkov, and the manager of the salt mines, Nikita Vepreisky, coal was mined in 1722-1724 at the outcrops of coal seams on the daylight surface.
19th Century The settlement of Zaitsevo emerged near the Sukhoi and Zhitny Yar ravines. By 1800, part of the settlement's population had moved to the Shcherbinovsky farmstead. The city itself was founded in 1806 in the Russian Empire, when parts of the town Zaitseve were split off into several minor hamlets, including Shcherbynivskyi. According to local traditions, this name originates from a similarly-named Cossack outpost in the area. In the late 1830s, coal deposits were discovered in the area, and the area was developed for coal mining. Shcherbynivskyi and neighboring villages were united into a village named Shcherbynivka, which became part of Bakhmut uezd.
By the mid-19th century, Shcherbinovka's population reached 457. Coal mining developed. In 1869, the Kursk-Kharkiv-Azov Railway was built, which passed near Shcherbynivka, significantly contributing to the economic development of the town. In the early 1890s, a coke plant was built. On the eve of 1916, three coal mines and two industrial enterprises were operating in Shcherbinovka.
20th century Shcherbynivka changed hands several times during the Russian Civil War of 1917–1923, before eventually being captured by the Bolsheviks, who established the communist Soviet Union on much of the former territory of the Russian Empire. In late 1918, a machine-gun crew was formed from among the Shcherbinov Red Guards for the 2nd Simbirsk Armored Train, which distinguished itself during the Defense of Tsaritsyn (now Volgograd) against the forces of Anton Ivanovich Denikin.
In 1923, 1 million tons of coal were mined. A cultural center and park were built in the first post-revolutionary years. In 1931, the Central Mine was renamed the Dzerzhinsky Mine. During the Second Five-Year Plan, the Toretskugol Trust was formed, which included the following mines: Central (mine) Dzerzhinsky Mine Artem Mine Sergeev, Fyodor Andreevich Mine Severnaya (mine, Toretskugol) Severnaya Mine Chigari (Yuzhnaya) Mine Mine No. 1-1-bis (Toretskaya) Mine No. 11-12 Shcherbinovskoye Mining Administration (several small mines).
In 1936, Shcherbynivka was renamed to Dzerzhynsk after Felix Dzerzhinsky. Dzerzhinsky was the founder of the Cheka secret police in the USSR, and architect of the Red Terror. It also received city status. A local newspaper began being published in the town in September 1936.№ 2683. Дзержинский шахтёр // Летопись периодических и продолжающихся изданий СССР 1986 - 1990. Часть 2. Газеты. М., «Книжная палата», 1994. стр.352 Dzerzhinsk was removed from the Gorlovka District, and the Dzerzhinsky District was formed (with Shcherbinovka as its center). In 1937, the Dzerzhinskugol trust mined 9,000 tons of coal daily.
During Great Patriotic War, Dzerzhynsk was occupied by Nazi Germany from 22 October 1941 to 5 September 1943.Liberation of Cities: A Handbook on the Liberation of Cities during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 / M. L. Dudarenko, Yu. G. Perechnev, V. T. Eliseev, et al. - Moscow: "Voenizdat", 1985. - 598 p.Isaev A. V. From Dubno to Rostov. - Moscow: AST; Transitkniga, 2004. During the occupation, the Germans killed 150 civilians and deported 1,460 for forced labor to Germany. The Germans operated a subcamp of the Stalag 378 prisoner-of-war camp in the town. On 5 September 1943, the city was liberated by Red Army troops of the Southern Front during the Donbass Operation. 51st Army consisted of: 315th Rifle Division (Major General Kuropatenko, Dmitry Semenovich), 63rd Rifle Corps (Major General Koshevoy, Pyotr Kirillovich).Website of the Red Army. http://rkka.ru .«Memory of the People»: Museum of the 51st Army: "The path of the 51st Army. Rostov-Donetsk direction. »
On 30 December 1962, Dzerzhinsk received the status of a city of regional subordination.Vedomosti of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. — 1963. — No. 8 (1147). In 1970, the city's population was 47,000 people. Six coal mines, a coke plant, a phenol plant, an acid-proof products plant, an enrichment plant, the Dzerzhinsk Mining College, a medical school, a music school and others operated here. According to the 1989 Soviet census, Dzerzhynsk's population was 50,538 people.Дзержинск // Большой энциклопедический словарь (в 2-х тт.). / редколл., гл. ред. А. М. Прохоров. том 1. М., "Советская энциклопедия", 1991. стр.386
After 1991 In May 1995, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved a decision to privatize the machine tool plant located in the city, ATP-11407, ATP-11478, central processing plant "Dzerzhinskaya", mechanical repair plant and acid-resistant plant products.«293545 Kurdyumivsky Acid Extracting Plant, Dzerzhinsk metro station In July 1995, the decision to privatize the bakery was approved."00375929 Dzerzhinsky Bakery Plant" In October 1995 - the decision to privatize the housing and communal services department of the PA "Dzerzhinskugol"."00184046 Dzerzhinsk Department of Housing and Communal Government VO "Dzerzhinskvugilla"
21st century In the 2001 census, Dzerzhynsk's population was 43,371 and by 2013 had declined to 35,296 people.
Following the 2015 law on decommunization, the city council decided on 16 October 2015 to rename the city to Toretsk. The name was approved by the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament) on 4 February 2016.Decommunisation continues: Rada renames several towns and villages, UNIAN (4 February 2016)
In August 2016, Toretsk mayor Volodymyr Sleptsov was arrested on separatism charges due to his ties to the Donetsk People's Republic in 2014; Serhiy Vinnyk became acting mayor.
In 2020, Toretsk became the center of Toretsk urban hromada within Bakhmut Raion, in accordance with nationwide administrative reforms.
Russo-Ukrainian War War in Donbas Starting in mid-April 2014, during the beginning of the war in Donbas, Russia-backed paramilitaries captured several towns in Donetsk Oblast, including Dzerzhynsk. On 21 July, Ukrainian forces recaptured the city.We Can Win After All, The Ukrainian Week (6 August 2015) As a result of the conflict, the city had its water supply cut multiple times during the war due to constant shelling by Russian-backed separatists, which prevented repairs as of November 2016.
Russian invasion of Ukraine
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine that began in February 2022, Russian forces advanced through Donetsk Oblast towards the city. Half of the pre-war population of 32,000 had fled the city by April 2022, and those that remained were impoverished and lacking in basic resources. Numerous civilians were killed as a result of Russian strikes. Toretsk civil-military administration head Vasyl Chynchyk announced in July 2023 that open-air markets in the city would be closed due to the extreme danger from Russian attacks. The administration continued slowly evacuating people westward. There had been no water or gas supply in a year and a half as of July 2023.
In June 2024, Toretsk came under increased Russian pressure, as part of a renewed campaign to capture the city and its surrounding villages. By October, Russia fully or almost completely controlled Toretsk's eastern outskirt settlements of Pivnichne, Zalizne, Druzhba, and Pivdenne, while also advancing into the center of Toretsk. By that time, Ukrainian military officials estimated the city population to have decreased to around 1,150. By January 2025, Russian forces controlled the urban area of Toretsk, with fighting ongoing around the city and its northern outskirts. Ukrainian forces indirectly admitted that most of the city was no longer controlled by Ukraine. On 7 February, Russia claimed that the city had been fully captured by its forces, although this was denied by Ukraine. The city was confirmed to have been captured by Russia in early August 2025.
Demographics
As of the 2001 Ukrainian census, the majority of residents identified as ethnic Ukrainians and spoke Russian as their first language:
The city became practically entirely depopulated as result of the Russian bombardment and months-long assault on the city. Amid heavy fighting, the city population decreased to about 1,150 according to a statement by the Ukrainian military administration on 11 October 2024, down from the estimated 1,600 by 13 September following an organised evacuation of at least 8,000. The estimated number of residents further decreased to 126 by January 2025, to 48 by March, and to around 40 by April.
Ethnicity Ukrainians: 61.4% Russians: 36.1% Belarusians: 1% Tatars: 0.3% Romani: 0.3%
First language Russian: 87.1% Ukrainian: 12.2% Romani: 0.2% Belarusian: 0.1% Armenian: 0.1%
Economy
The industries of the city (until the 2010s) included coal mining, the production of coke chemical, ceramics, and phenol.
Coal industry (GKH "Toretskugol, Mine named after St. Matrona of Moscow") - coal production in 2003 - 854 thousand tons, chemical (Dzerzhinsky phenol plant - urban-type settlement of Novgorodskoye, produces naphthalene, phenols, and other products from waste coke and chemical production; coke plant; acid-resistant products plant) industry, mechanical engineering (PO "Metallist", Novgorod Machine-Building Plant - mining machines, machine tool assembly plant, OJSC "Galeya" - a monopoly supplier of high-voltage cable products for wind power stations in Ukraine).
Coal mining is carried out in challenging geological conditions, with the depth of extraction constantly increasing, 80% using jackhammers.