Druzhba Arena () was an

indoor arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; ; ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capita ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. It was built to develop hockey in the region. It was destroyed in May 2014 during the

War in Donbas The war in Donbas, or the Donbas war, was a phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. The war Timeline of the war in Donbas (2014), began in April 2014, when Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, Russian para ...

History

Druzhba was built in 1975 as Druzhba Palace of Sports (), by a standard design (dated 1956), with a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

of 4,700 people for sporting events and 5,100 for concerts The Palace was open for visitors in 1976, and this event was the double surprise for fans, as the hockey match between Moscow hockey star teams was organized – Krylya Sovetov and

Dynamo "Dynamo Electric Machine" (end view, partly section, ) A dynamo is an electrical generator that creates direct current using a commutator. Dynamos employed electromagnets for self-starting by using residual magnetic field left in the iron cores ...

. The arena had a 60x30 rink for hockey. Many memorable matches took place on the ice arena, for example, international youth tournament between teams from socialist countries (1976), international tournament for the prize of the newspaper ''

Sovetsky Sport ''Sovetsky Sport'' (; English: Soviet Sports) is a Russian national daily sports newspaper. Until 19 March 1946 the newspaper was called ''Red Sports'' (Russian: Красный спорт), it was not printed between 1928 and 1932. History Fo ...

'' (1983) etc. After the Palace of Sports was open, a hockey school for children was functioning on its base for 16 years. More than 500 children were taught in the school. Cooling units had worked without overhaul repair until the 1990s, and it became difficult to meet the requirements stipulated in the competitions conducted here and in 1992, the Palace was closed. The Palace was reconstructed in 2010, during the renovation facade of the building was updated, the facility was equipped with modern freezing system, the stands capacity was increased to 4,000 spectators from 3,500. Donetsk obtained the right to host the 2011 IIHF World U18 Championship Division II. In 2013, it hosted the Final stage of the 2012–13 IIHF Continental Cup and the 2013 IIHF World Championship Division I. It was the regular home venue of

BC Donetsk Basketball Club Donetsk (), commonly known as simply Donetsk, was a Ukraine, Ukrainian professional basketball club, based in Donetsk. The team played in the Ukrainian Basketball Super League, Ukrainian SuperLeague. The mascot of the team was a tig ...

(

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

team) and HC Donbass (

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

team). The arena hosted the annual Pole Vault Stars meeting, which was hosted by Sergey Bubka and have featured numerous world record performances.

2014 fire

On the night of May 26, 2014, Druzhba Arena was ransacked by an armed group as part of the

. The men tied up security, looted the arena, stole televisions, safety deposit boxes, equipment and a company car before destroying surveillance equipment – after which they set the arena on fire. President of the HC Donbas Borys Kolesnikov in an appeal of May 27, accused of what happened representatives of the so-called

Donetsk People's Republic The Donetsk People's Republic (DPR; , ) is Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, occupied territory in Ukraine that the Russian Federation has claimed to annex and declared as a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia, comprising parts o ...

, saying “We call on those people who still sympathize with the rebels of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, terrorizing East Ukraine – think: Is this a “future” they want for themselves and their children?" HC Donbas expected the arena to be operational within 90 days and fully restored by the start of the KHL season. This did not happen and the team provisionally withdrew from the KHL and HC Donbas currently play in Druzhkivka in the

Ukrainian Hockey League The Ukrainian Hockey League was the name of the highest ice hockey league in Ukraine since the 2016–17 season, playing for the Ukrainian Hockey Championship. The league was created in June 2016 and folded in 2021. Seasons * 2016–17 (winner ...

References

External links

* {{2014 pro-Russian conflict in Ukraine Indoor arenas in Ukraine Basketball venues in Ukraine Ice hockey venues in Ukraine Sport in Donetsk Indoor track and field venues Buildings and structures in Donetsk Sports venues completed in 1976 2014 fires in Europe Fires in Ukraine HC Donbass 1976 establishments in Ukraine