What is "shakhtarsk"

Shakhtarsk or Shakhtyorsk is a city in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. Regionally, the city is an administrative urban enclave also consisting of cities Torez and Snizhne and surrounded by Shakhtarsk Raion. It serves as the administrative center of Shakhtarsk Raion which it does not belong to. Population: .

The city was established in 1953 in place of a mining town of Katyk and villages Oleksiyevo-Orlivka and Vilkhivske.

The city municipality also includes four towns Kontarne, Moskovske, Serdyte, and Stizhkivske; and some nine smaller villages: Viktoria, Vinnytske, Hirne, Dorofiyenko, Dubove, Zarichne, Kyshchenko, Lobanivka, Chumaky.

Starting mid-April 2014, the self-proclaimed People's Republic of Donetsk occupied towns in Donetsk Oblast; including Shakhtarsk. On 27 July 2014, Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian local militia claimed Ukrainian troops had entered Shakhtarsk. On 30 July 2014, the DPR militia resumed control of the city.