Shakhtarsk Raion () was one of the

raion A raion (also spelt rayon) is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet states. The term is used for both a type of subnational entity and a division of a city. The word is from the French (meaning 'honeycomb, department'), and is c ...

s of

Donetsk Oblast Donetsk Oblast, also referred to as Donechchyna (, ), is an Oblasts of Ukraine, oblast in eastern Ukraine. It is Ukraine's most populous province, with around 4.1 million residents. Its capital city, administrative centre is Donetsk, though d ...

, located in eastern

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 ...

. The administrative center of the raion was the city of Shakhtarsk, which was incorporated separately as a city of oblast significance and was not part of the raion. The raion was abolished on 18 July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Donetsk Oblast to eight. However the raion has not been under control of the Ukrainian government since 2014, and has been part of the

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 ...

which in 2015 abolished it and subordinated to the city of Shakhtarsk. The last estimate of the raion population, reported by the Ukrainian government, was

Location

Shakhtarsk Raion was located in the eastern part of

and to its southeast it had an international border with

Rostov Oblast Rostov Oblast ( rus, Росто́вская о́бласть, r=Rostovskaya oblastʹ, p=rɐˈstofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the Southern Federal District. The oblast ...

of the

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. To its east it borders

Luhansk Oblast Luhansk Oblast (; ), also referred to as Luhanshchyna (), is the easternmost Administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of Ukraine. Its administrative center is the city of Luhansk. The oblast was established in 1938 and bore the n ...

. To the south is Amvrosiivka Raion, and to its north,

Bakhmut Raion Bakhmut Raion (), known as Artemivsk Raion () between 1924 and 2016, is a raion (district) within the northeastern part of Donetsk Oblast in eastern Ukraine. Its administrative center is Bakhmut. Its area is , and its population is approximately ...

. To the west of Shakhtars Raion stretched a chain of several cities with separate regional-level self-government such as

Makiivka Makiivka (, ), formerly Dmytriivsk () until 1931, is an industrial city in Donetsk Oblast, eastern Ukraine, located east from Donetsk. The two cities are practically a conurbation. It has a population of It hosts the administration of Makiivka ...

Khartsyzk Khartsyzk (, ; , ) is a city in Donetsk Raion, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. The city has a population of History It was founded in 1869 as a settlement at the station put into operation on the Kursk-Kharkiv-Azov railway. The Khartsyzsk settleme ...

Yenakieve Yenakiieve (, ; ) is a city and the nominal administrative center of Yenakiieve urban hromada in the Horlivka Raion, Donetsk Oblast of Ukraine. The city stands on the Krynka River about from the oblast's administrative center, Donetsk. Its ...

Zhdanivka Zhdanivka or Zhdanovka (, ; ) is a small city in the Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. The city has a population of The city is occupied by regular Russian and pro-Russian proxy forces since 2014. History Starting Mid-April 2014 pro-Russian separati ...

. The raion also completely surrounded the cities of Shakhtarsk,

Torez Chystiakove (, ; ), formerly Torez (Ukrainian and ) until 2016, is a city in Donetsk Oblast, in eastern Ukraine. The city is a center of the regional coal industry and much of its economy relies on mining, despite a recent drop in the number of ...

, and

Snizhne Snizhne (, ) or Snezhnoye (), formerly known as Vasylivka (; ) until 1864, is a city in Horlivka Raion, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. The eastern edge of Snizhne is adjacent to administrative border of Luhansk Oblast. Its population is History The ...

War in Donbas

Shakhtarsk Raion had one international border crossing with the

, Marynivka - Kuibyshevo. On June 5, 2014, the

Government of Ukraine The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (), commonly referred to as the Government of Ukraine (), is the highest body of state Executive (government), executive power in Ukraine. As the Cabinet of Ministers of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republi ...

was forced to close the border crossing, due to multiple reports of unsanctioned crossings by militants from the

. On June 6, 2014 intense fighting erupted at the Marynivka border checkpoint between Ukrainian border guards and militants who tried to cross into Ukraine from the

. 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 ...

several battles took place around the Savur-Mohyla heights. The obelisk of the Savur-Mohyla Soviet memorial is depicted on the coat of arms and flag of Shakhtarsk Raion. The

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17/MAS17) was a scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Kuala Lumpur that was shot down by Russian-backed forces with a Buk missile system, Bu ...

, remnants of which scattered around the village of Hrabove, went down within the area of the raion. On August 10–11, 2014 Ukrainian media claimed that the village of Stepanivka was completely destroyed by

BM-21 Grad The BM-21 "Grad" () is a self-propelled 122 mm multiple rocket launcher designed in the Soviet Union. The system and the M-21OF rocket were first developed in the early 1960s, and saw their first combat use in March 1969 during the Sino-S ...

multi-rocket launcher systems fired from the territory of the

Demographics

As of the

2001 Ukrainian Census The 2001 Ukrainian census is to date the only census of the population of independent Ukraine. It was conducted by the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine on 5 December 2001, twelve years after the last Soviet Union census in 1989.Zakharchenko

References

Former raions of Donetsk Oblast 1965 establishments in Ukraine Ukrainian raions abolished during the 2020 administrative reform {{Donetsk-geo-stub