Lyman, Ukraine

History

Pre-founding

Archaeologists have discovered Neolithic stone sculptures in the Lyman district and Scythian remains from the fourth and third centuries BCE.

Founding and Tsarist history

In 1646, the "Mayaka" fort was built 18 km away from the location of modern Lyman, as part of the larger effort to defend the southern border of Tsardom of Russia from the attacks of the Crimean Tatars, especially along the Donets river. Lyman itself was founded in 1667/1678 as a fortified town near the Mayaka fortress.

From 1904 to 1910, a railway was constructed that passed through Lyman. This railway stimulated growth of civilian settlement in the area, where earlier settlers had been entirely military.

20th century

Lyman changed hands numerous times during the Russian Civil War. According to the 1926 Soviet census, Krasnyi Lyman had a population of 4,800 people.

Krasnyi Lyman received city status in 1938, and its population continued to grow: by 1939, it had a population of 25,600. During World War II, Krasnyi Lyman was occupied by Nazi Germany between 7 July 1942 and 3 February 1943.

The city's population continued to grow after the end of the war. In 1988, Krasnyi Lyman became a city of regional significance.

Russo-Ukrainian War

In June 2014, the city was the scene of the battle of Krasnyi Lyman during the war in Donbas. On 5 June the town returned to Ukrainian control. Following the 2015 law on decommunization the city returned to its original name Lyman, removing the prefix Krasnyi.

Lyman is an important railway junction. During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Lyman was seized by Russian troops on 27 May 2022. The Russian occupiers changed the city's name back to the Soviet name Krasnyi Liman shortly thereafter. The control of Lyman, while it is not a large city, gave Russia and its proxies control of a key road that leads to Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. On 1 October, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman announced that Russian forces were withdrawing from the city, hours after Russian president Vladimir Putin had declared Donetsk Oblast to have been annexed by Russia.

The largely destroyed city has still been regularly shelled by Russia after the battles.

In November of 2025, Russian forces entered southern part of Lyman, and the city became contested. On 21 December 2025, a Ukrainian military observer Kostyantyn Mashovets reported and confirmed that the Russian forces currently occupy positions in southeastern Lyman.

Economy

The city is known by locals as "The Gates of Donbas", and is a regional export hub for goods like coal, salt, and sand.

Lyman is a key railway hub, carrying up to 30% of cargo on the Donetsk railway system. 35% of residents are employed in rail transport, and 18% in industry. Railway transport enterprises include the local office of the Donetsk Railway Administration, the PMS-10 track engine station, the ТЧ-1 locomotive depot, the РПЧ-3 motor car depot, and numerous maintenance sites and sections of the railway. Other industries include food processing, a feed mill, quarry management, the Leman-Beton concrete manufacturer, and others.

More than 80 agricultural enterprises operate in the region. The forestry and animal husbandry business is among the most important in Ukraine. More than 40,000 mink skins are produced in Lyman annually. There is also a branch of the energy company 000 Donbasnefteprodukt. Other industries have included a silicate brick factory, an asphalt and concrete factory, and a food canning factory.

Social sphere

There are located many types of schools. Technical School of Machinists, Medical School, Vocational School. 3 hospitals (865 beds, 100 doctors), 3 cultural centers, 29 libraries, 10 schools (including a lyceum and a gymnasium; 4,500 students and 250 teachers), a music school, a children's and youth sports school, a branch of the Ukrainian State University of Railway Transport.

Demographics

| 1926 |4,800 | 1939 |25,600 | 1959 |28,900 | 1979 |31,800 | 1998 |29,300 | 2001 |28,172 | 2022 |20,066 | 2025|3,634

As of the 2001 Ukrainian census, 28,172 people lived in the city. In terms of native language, 69.8% spoke Ukrainian, 29.67% spoke Russian, and 0.53% spoke other languages or did not answer the survey question. The exact ethnic and linguistic composition was as follows:

The population has declined in the early 21st century, decreasing to an estimated 20,066 by 2022.

Monuments

• Monument to fallen Afghan soldiers (monument to internationalist soldiers)
• Monument (memorial) to the Holodomor victims of 1932-1933
• Lifetime bust of two-time Hero of the Soviet Union cosmonaut Leonid Denisovich Kizim
• Monument to the liberators of Krasny Liman (a T-34 tank on a pedestal)
• Motherland Memorial with an Eternal Flame
• Monuments to participants in the Revolution, the Civil War, and the Great Patriotic War

Twin towns

On 11 January 2023, Westport, Connecticut officially announced Lyman as their sister city.

References

References

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