Mykolaivka (, ; ) is a city and administrative centre of Mykolaivka urban hromada in Kramatorsk Raion, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine to the south of the railway station Elektrychna. The city is most known for being the home of the Sloviansk Thermal Power Plant, where it is a major employer of local residents. The population estimate is about It is located in the historic region of Sloboda Ukraine.

Geography Mykolaivka is located near the Seversky Donets River, 20 km east of Sloviansk and 12 km from the Kozhushko railway station Sloviansk – Lyman line. The physical distance to Kyiv is 528 km. A railway line from Sloviansk serves the city, serving and supplying the Sloviansk Thermal Power Plant. The Elektricheskaya railway station, a non-passenger railway station, operates.

History The settlement was founded in the first half of the 18th century in 1730. It was the property of Danila Bystritsky, the Izyum wagon regiment. In 1732, Bystritsky's estate included 18 households, 34 huts, and 83 souls. According to church records and legend, the river, located approximately 15–16 km from Slavyansk, flowed into the Seversky Donets River, which was very turbulent and, flowing out of ravines and hillocks composed of red clay, eroded the turf banks. This gave the river and the settlement their name, Krasny Byk.

The settlement of Krasny Byk grew into a sloboda, a village, and by the end of the 18th century, it had 397 households and approximately two thousand people of both sexes. According to legend, one of the settlers found an icon depicting St. Nicholas. A chapel was built in the village, and the icon of St. Nicholas was placed there. After some time, the settlement of Krasny Byk was renamed Nikolaevka, after the chapel of St. Nicholas. The chapel with the icon of St. Nicholas, according to legend, was moved to the church newly built in 1748. It was subsequently rebuilt several times, consecrated by clergy, and the village became a full-fledged settlement and parish.

In 1903, Pyotr Petrovich Semenov-Tyan-Shansky wrote about Nikolaevka: "All the clay from the Nikolaevka deposit is of high quality and is used by potters not only in the nearby village, but also in many villages 10 miles away." In 1900, the Slavic manufacturer Essen built a porcelain factory on the colored clay deposits between Nikolaevka and Rai-Aleksandrovka, employing many Nikolaev residents. In 1910, a pottery school was established in Nikolaevka, with four masters teaching about 70 students.

After the overthrow of the Provisional Government of Russia, a zemstvo was organized in Nikolaevka. After the October Revolution, a volost revolutionary committee was elected in Nikolaevka. Nikolaevka partisans who died during the civil War are buried in a mass grave in Raihorodok. In 1931 a farm was established in Nikolaevka. By 1932 the farm had 30 cows, 150 sheep, and 30 pigs. Two collective farms were organized in the village. The top of the farm was united into the Chubar collective farm, and the lower streets of the village were united into the 15th Party Congress collective farm.

From October 1941 to June 1942 the front ran along the Donets River. On the night of September 2, 1943, all residents were evacuated along the roads in the direction of the Dnieper River. The Germans used this to cover their retreat, as a German convoy of horses and vehicles was moving alongside the civilians. Almost the entire village was burned by the Germans during their retreat. Of the 940 houses in Nikolaevka, only 72 remained. On September 12, 1943, the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army liberated the village of Varvarovka in the Kramatorsk Raion, where residents of Nikolaevka were located.

After the war, part of the collective farm lands was allocated for the construction of the Slavyansk Thermal Power Plant. Construction workers arrived here in late 1951. On September 26, 1954, the first unit of the power plant, with a capacity of 100 MW, began operation. By decision of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union, construction of the main unit, the first in Europe, with a capacity of 800 MW, began in late 1963. Some time later, construction of another unit of the same capacity began. It was commissioned in 1969.

Mykolaivka received city status in 2003, and since 2016 has been the center of the community of the same name.

Russia-Ukraine War

On July 4, 2014, Ukrainian forces secured the city from pro-Russian separatists.Government forces continue to free towns and capture gunmen's weapons and equipment in eastern Ukraine – NSDC, Interfax-Ukraine (July 3, 2014) The hospital began renovations in 2015, having been damaged in the fighting, with pro-Russian militants positioned around the building and on its roof. In 2016, the Verkhovna Rada appropriated the status of the city of district significance, withdrew it from the composition of the Sloviansk municipality and included it in the Sloviansk Raion.

On September 28, 2022, the city was shelled by Russia. One person is known to be killed.

Social sphere Education Nikolaevskaya Comprehensive School No. 1 (11 Muzykalnaya St.) Nikolaevskaya Comprehensive School No. 2 (11 50-letiya Slavyanskoy TES St.) Nikolaevskaya Comprehensive School No. 3 (8 Mira St.) Nikolaevskaya Auxiliary Boarding School for Orphans (11–15 Sinetskogo St.) Energetik Sports and Recreation Complex (24 50-letiya Slavyanskoy TES St.)

Healthcare Slavyansk Central District Hospital (13 Mira St.), which includes surgical, therapeutic, and infectious disease departments, as well as an outpatient clinic. Primary Health Care Center (13 Mira St.), which includes 10 outpatient clinics and 24 feldsher-midwife stations in the Slavyansk District. Ambulance Station (9 Kyiv Lane)

Demographics Year Number of inhabitants 1864 1989 1885 1466 1897January 28, 1897 1719 1903 1800 1915 3659 1959January 15, 1959 7014 1970January 15, 1970 15309 1979January 17, 1979 16613 1987 16700 198912.01.1989 16189 1992 16400 1994 17000 1998 16400 200205.12.2001 16620 2003 16447 2004 16408 2005 16285 2006 16201 2007 16203 2008 16149 2009 16050 2010 15920 2011 15847 2012 15780 2013 15684 2014 15559 2015 15391 2016 15245 2017 15109 2018 14917 2019 14724 2020 14564 2024https://www.kramatorskpost.com/skilki-lyudei-zive-zaraz-u-kramatorsku-slovyansku-ta-insix-mistax-kramatorskogo-raionu_87116 4612

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