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Popasna Territorial Community
Luhansk
Population:
The Popasna urban territorial community is a Ukrainian territorial community in Severodonetsk district of Luhansk region. The town of Popasna is designated as the administrative center of the Popasna territorial community. The total area of the community is 46.1 thousand hectares.
The Popasna urban territorial community includes 14 population centers, namely: 1 town, 2 settlements, and 11 villages.
The total population of the Popasna urban territorial community before the full-scale russian invasion was 24,593 people.
Women: 13,264.
Men: 11,329.
History
The population center of Popasna was founded in 1878. The settlement of Popasna arose in the middle of the 19th century during the construction of the Donetsk Coal Railway. The inhabitants of the settlement were mostly tied to the railway. There were also depots and station warehouses. Around the same years, the first railway station was built. As soon as by 1910, Popasna became a major railway junction.
From 1912 to 1931, the Luhansk region’s largest wagon depot, wagon repair plant and large industrial enterprises – a brick factory, the first steam mill, a toilet soap factory, an alabaster factory, a glass factory – were built here. In 1938, Popasna was granted the status of a town of district significance.
After the Second World War, the railway industry in the town developed rapidly – most of the enterprises were engaged in railway transport, so Popasna became a town of railway workers.
Popasna station had not only industrial and historical value, but also cultural value. Popasna station was mentioned in the novel “12 Chairs” by Ilf and Petrov.
Another ancient landmark of the town is the Saint Nicholas Church. The construction of the church began in 1907, and as soon as Easter 1909, its bells rang and the first service was held.
St. Nicholas Church is a peculiar symbol of Popasna, which throughout its history reflected the reality in which the town lived. In the summer of 2022, the town community was going to celebrate the 115th anniversary of the temple. Even at the beginning of February, it did not know that the vast majority of its residents would be forced to leave their town and its ancient church.
Economy and Welfare
Since 2014, the economy of the Popasna urban territorial community has been under the influence of the armed conflict, the active actions of which took place in the immediate vicinity of the administrative center of the Popasna community. Such a situation strongly affected the development of the economy, demography and the labor market in the Popasna urban territorial community.
In recent years, there has been a significant outflow of the population, the cessation of the activities of some enterprises due to damage to their property during the armed conflict, a reduction in the volume of production due to the termination of production and trade relations, and a reduction in consumer demand.
The economic specialization of the Popasna urban territorial community was based on the machine-building industry of the town of Popasna, as well as agricultural activities which are conducted both on the territory of the town and on the territories of the former settlement and village councils that were part of the community.
In the Popasna urban territorial community, medium and small businesses were represented by a trade network and a service sector. The service network was the least developed in rural areas.
The community has 2 industrial enterprises, 9 railway transport enterprises, and 3 communally owned enterprises.
The additional liability company “Popasna Wagon Repair Plant” is a large enterprise and a taxpayer to the local budget. The main activity of the enterprise is repair and maintenance of other types of transport equipment.
The Popasna Bread Factory was another important industrial enterprise of the community which mainly engaged in the production of bread, fresh flour confectionery, cakes and pastries.
On the territory of the community, three communal enterprises carried out their activities: “Popasna District Waterworks”, “Komyshuvakha Waterworks” and a communal facility engaged in landscaping.
Also, there are many different facilities in the community that deal with repairs and maintenance of railways and wagons.
The network of secondary education institutions of the Popasna urban territorial community is represented by 7 education institutions. Five education institutions of secondary education have inclusive classes. Also, extended day groups worked in education institutions of the community.
Pupils and teachers were picked up by a school bus on the territory of the Popasna urban territorial community.
The schools of the Popasna urban territorial community are provided with qualified personnel, however, there were cases when rural school teachers taught several subjects.
Preschool education was represented by three institutions.
In the town of Popasna, there were also communal institutions that provided services for inclusive education and extracurricular education: the communal institution “Inclusive Resource Center” and the Popasna District Complex Rehabilitation Center for People with Disabilities “Leleka”.
The Popasna Children’s School of Arts provided services to children in various areas and included instrumental classes, choreography department, art department, vocal class and early childhood development group.
In the communal institution “House of Children’s and Youth Creativity”, artistic & aesthetic, social & rehabilitation, military & patriotic, physical culture & sports, health & humanities groups worked.
In the Popasna town sports facility “Renaissance”, there were sports sections for children, young people and adults, namely: koshiki karate, weightlifting, and powerlifting.
The Popasna Vocational Lyceum of Railway Transport operated on the territory of the town of Popasna, where pupils could get a full secondary education and a professional education at the same time, mastering not only the railway profession, but also the profession of an electric gas welder, a driver, a tractor driver and a mechanic for the repair of agricultural machines and equipment.
The health care system of the Popasna urban territorial community was represented by a network of medical and preventive institutions, which were mainly located in the town of Popasna – the Popasna substation of the Lysychansk communal treatment and preventive institution “Emergency Medical Aid Station”, “Popasna District Center of Primary Medical and Sanitary Care”, which includes: 1 Center of Primary Medical Care, 2 group practice dispensaries, 9 monopractice dispensaries, 4 health centers, 12 medical and midwifery centers and the “Popasna Central District Hospital”.
The infrastructure of cultural institutions of the Popasna urban territorial community was represented by three houses of culture and village clubs.
Employees of houses of culture organized and held various events involving on-stage performance groups, game programs, educational events, festivals and other events.
Every year, patriotic bicycle and car races were held in the community, and on holidays residents and guests of the town of Popasna could visit the alley of craftsmen, where the craftsmen of our community sold their products and held master classes.
On the territory of the town of Popasna there was a communal facility “Semen Ioffe Popasna District Local History Museum”, the collection of which totaled more than 13,000 storage units – these are archaeological monuments, collections of numismatics, documents, works of art and household items.
Among them were unique exhibits, as well as exhibits collected during the anti-terrorist operation – photographs, projectile fragments, documents, etc. The museum exposition was deployed in 9 halls.
The Popasna centralized library system functioned on the territory of the Popasna urban territorial community, which included nine public libraries.
Community and War
After the beginning of the armed conflict in the east of Ukraine in May 2014, the town of Popasna was captured by illegal armed formations. The Ukrainian volunteer battalion “Donbas” took part in the liberation of the town together with units of the Armed Forces and the National Guard of Ukraine. On July 22, 2014, the town of Popasna was liberated from illegal armed formations.
After the signing of the Minsk agreements in September 2014 and the stabilization of the front line, the town of Popasna remained a territory along the contact line and was repeatedly fired upon by Grad rocket launchers. Shelling and attempts to recapture the town of Popasna by illegal armed groups were carried out in 2014-2018.
The Popasna urban territorial community was one of the first to experience all the horrors of the russian invasion in 2022. The shelling of the community’s population centers began on February 24, 2022 and of the town of Popasna – on March 2, 2022.
Due to massive shelling, the entire utilities infrastructure of the community was destroyed. People were left without electricity, gas, water and communication. Over the course of several months, the homes of Popasna residents were wiped off the face of the earth. Not a single building remained in the town that was not damaged or destroyed. In the community, 9,991 private houses and 250 apartment buildings, all educational, cultural, sports, administrative institutions and much more were destroyed and damaged.
The russian military shelled the community en masse with artillery, mortars and aircraft.
Then one of the fiercest and longest battles broke out for the town of Popasna. For more than two months, the occupiers could not break through the defenses of Popasna, but unfortunately, since May 8, 2022, the town of Popasna has been occupied by the russian federation.
In the first days, the evacuation of the population was carried out by rail transport from the Popasna railway station. After evacuation by rail became impossible, evacuation was carried out with the help of school buses to the town of Bakhmut, Donetsk region.
After the occupation of the territory of the community, the employees of Popasna Urban Military Administration continue to work for their residents.
To date, 13,451 people (4,862 families) have been registered who were forced to leave the territory of the community due to the occupation, including 6,364 people of working age, 2,510 children, 438 people with disabilities, and 4,577 pensioners.
To date, there are three hubs that are subordinated to the Popasna Urban Military Administration. These are hubs in Novomoskovsk, Cherkasy and Kharkiv. In addition to providing humanitarian assistance to the residents, the hubs provide medical, psychological, and administrative services, legal consultations are held, employees of the Pension Fund, the Employment Center, and the Center for Social Welfare and Development hold office hours for public, various events to celebrate public holidays and children’s meetings and master classes are held.
People of the Community
From April 09, 2021 to April 07, 2023, Mykola Khanatov was appointed the head of the Popasna Urban Military & Civil Administration. Since April 07, 2023, he has been appointed the Head of the Popasna Urban Military Administration.
Due to the occupation, Mykola Khanatov and his team were forced to leave the territory of the community. But even at a distance, he was able to organize the coordinated and productive work of the Popasna Urban Military Administration.
In order to deepen knowledge and improve competences on issues of European integration, establishing and maintaining business relations with the countries of the European Union, studying the experience of European municipalities, representing the region in European countries, Mykola Khanatov, Head of the Popasna Urban Military Administration, attended the training of the community of local self-government spokesmen, the League of Local Self-Government Leaders within the framework of the “U-LEAD with Europe” Program.
The Popasna Urban Military Administration and UGENIA BV (the Netherlands) concluded a Memorandum of Cooperation with the purpose to establish cooperation regarding the restoration of the territory of the Popasna urban territorial community in the energy sector (electricity and thermal energy).
The Popasna Urban Military Administration and Economy of Trust Ukraine Inc. (USA) concluded a Memorandum of Partnership and Cooperation with the purpose to establish cooperation in the supply of mobile hybrid electric generators manufactured by Volta Energy (the Netherlands) for community needs.
Active residents of the Popasna community in Kryvyi Rih created the public organization “Basket of Goodness”. This is an example of how internally displaced residents of the Popasna community can unite and work together for the sake of developing a common environment and solving their own problems. The Popasna Urban Military Administration always supports such initiatives and provides comprehensive assistance.
In order to comprehensively help the residents of the community in solving various important issues, employees of the Popasna Urban Military Administration regularly hold out-of-town receptions for citizens who live in different parts of our country.
The Popasna Urban Military Administration concluded a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Oleksandria Town Council and the charitable organization “The Oleksandria Aid Center Charitable Foundation”. The tripartite agreement is aimed at joining efforts in solving humanitarian issues and providing assistance to forced migrants from Luhansk region and Popasna in particular.
At present, 6 institutions of general secondary education (schools) continue to work remotely in the community, and it is expected that 939 students will study in these schools on September 1, 2024. This gives the children of the Popasna community the opportunity to get a quality education in their familiar surroundings. For the Popasna community, the preservation of its students and teaching staff is very important.
Development Strategy
With the support of a team of experts from the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme and with the aim of determining the direction of further actions in the field of reforming the economy and the social sphere in 2021, the Strategy for the Development of the Popasna Territorial Community until 2027 was developed.
List of Sources
- Official website of the Popasna Urban Military Administration
- Official Facebook page of the settlement council
- Telegram channel of the Popasna Urban Military Administration