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Soledar Territorial Community
Donetsk
Population:
The Soledar Urban Territorial Community is located in the territory of the Bakhmut District of the Donetsk Region.
The total area of the Community amounts to 558.29 square kilometres.
The population of the Community amounts to 19,313 residents (as of 01 January 2022).
Women: 10,371 residents (as of 01 January 2022)
Men: 8,942 residents (as of 01 January 2022)
Internally displaced persons: 1,387 residents (as of 01 January 2022)
The Community consists of thirty-seven localities. The administrative centre of the Community is located in the town of Soledar.
History
The history of Soledar is closely related to the development of the Bakhmut salt industry.
In the last quarter of the 17th century, when salt started to be mined in the area of the Bakhmutka River, a village of Briantsivka was built around the salt mines.
After carrying out geological explorations and discovering nine salt layers, the construction of the first salt mine, named the Briantsivka mine, began on the banks of the Mokra Plotva River. Five more salt mines were built within the next several years.
Later, deposits of quartzite, gypsum (alabaster) and refractory clay were discovered near the village of Briantsivka, and in 1899 the Dekonsky factory of alabaster and refractory products and materials was built.
The Sil and Dekonska railway stations and the Sil station depot were built for the transportation of salt and other goods.
In 1926, the village of Briantsivka was renamed Karlo-Libknechtivsk. In July of 1991, the town of Karlo-Libknechtivsk was renamed Soledar.
Before the full-scale invasion, the town had the best ranking places according to indicators of the budgetary activity of communities and was considered a town that could surprise.
Economy and Welfare
Salt production is the mainstay of the economy of the Community. The most famous is the state enterprise “Artemsil”, which operates using the richest saline deposits.
Before the full-scale invasion, Artemsil mined and processed the mineral halite, providing the population and the industry with table rock salt, and the metallurgy, the chemical industry, agriculture and other industries with high-quality and cheap sodium chloride for industrial use.
The town is home to the production facilities of Knauf, a leading enterprise in the European construction materials industry.
The economic growth of the Community is also ensured by the agricultural sector, which is represented by seventy-one agricultural enterprises and has great potential, holding a leading position in the Donetsk Region when it comes to the cultivation of grain and industrial crops.
Before the full-scale russian invasion of Ukraine, the Community actively implemented infrastructure projects.
The Citizen Security Centre has been opened. With the financing of the European Investment Bank, a project was started to reconstruct the core school, which should become a model of comfort and technology. A modern centre for the provision of administrative and social services has begun its work. It was planned to open a new outpatient clinic to provide general family medicine practice services to rural residents.
The Community had developed infrastructure and space for development, which fully provided comfortable living conditions.
Community and War
The war for the Soledar Community began back in 2014. At that time, russia already tried to storm the town, but the Ukrainian army repelled the attack. The Soledar Community survived, choosing the European path of development. The town received the first refugees from the occupied territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk Regions.
During the first days of the full-scale russian invasion of Ukraine, the residents of the Community once again felt what the so called “russian world” means. The Community was under constant shelling, and in 2022 Artemsil was destroyed.
From the very beginning, the russian army did not stop trying to invade the Community. The invaders did not pay attention to the large losses of their military personnel and continued to actively storm the town, destroying it. The russian army fired shells onto every square of Soledar. The Ukrainian army was on the defensive. But on 25 January 2023, in order to save the lives of the soldiers, the Ukrainian Army was forced to leave the town.
As of March 2024, part of the territory of the Soledar Urban Territorial Community was defined as the territory of active hostilities and part of it as the territory temporarily occupied by the russian federation. Stolen lives, destroyed homes and plans for the future, ruined critical infrastructure facilities, tens of thousands of hectares of land mined with explosives – this is what remains of the developed European Soledar Community.
But the Town Council is already working on issues of restoration of its territories, local economy and solving environmental problems.
The leadership team of the town was relocated to the front-line Dnipro and continues to work for the benefit of the Soledar residents. In Kyiv, Dnipro, and Cherkasy, centres for the support of the civilian population of the Soledar Urban Territorial Community “Soledar: the way home” began to work, where its residents can receive legal and psychological consultations, humanitarian aid, and discuss other important issues.
It is a centre where the residents of the Community come together to solve problems and prepare together to return home. And the team makes every effort to meet the needs of its citizens – both those who have left and those who remain in the frontline areas of the Community.
An educational space for children also functions at humanitarian centres.
People of the Community
In 2022, Serhii Hoshka was appointed the head of the Soledar Urban Military Administration.
All the efforts made by the Community leader are aimed at helping the residents and the military. With the support of the head of the Soledar Town Council, the Support Centres “Soledar: the way home” began to work. Systematic provision of humanitarian aid to residents of the Soledar Community who have not left their homes and remain in the zone of active hostilities has been organized.
It was thanks to the salt that the town was well known to tourists in the pre-war period. Tourist routes were opened at a depth of almost 300 metres in the salt mines of State Enterprise “Artemsil”. Salt underground areas are not only impressive, but also have a health-improving effect. Cultural events were also held across the Community.
The destroyed enterprise and salt became a symbol of the invincibility of the Ukrainian people. Artist Ivan Shulhin created a composition with a torn package of table salt produced in Soledar, drawing a parallel between it and the destruction caused by russian troops.
The last batch of salt with the inscription “Mits” (strength) in 2023 could be purchased for a donation. Thus, Ukrainians and the last Artem salt raised UAH 58.5 million for FPV drones.
But residents understand that the main value of the Community is its people: sincere, hardworking, talented, active people, who are the driving force of the Community development.
Development Strategy
Due to the full-scale invasion, active hostilities and temporary occupation of the Community’s territories, the Development Strategy for the period until 2025 has lost its relevance.
The development of a new Strategy requires a comprehensive analysis of the consequences of the war, the formation of priorities and strategic goals, taking into account the peculiarities of the present. Currently, it is impossible to carry out such work due to active hostilities and temporary occupation of territories.
The Community actively cooperates with international donors. The town is open to international partnerships.
Sources
- Community document
- Official website of the Community
- Facebook page of Artemsil