Stanytsia Luhanska
Stanytsia Luhanska (; ) is an urban-type settlement on the banks of the Seversky Donets River in the Shchastia Raion of Luhansk Oblast in eastern Ukraine. Population: . Stanytsia Luhanska is one of two local foundations of the Don Cossacks in today's Ukraine. It is situated 20 km northeast of Luhansk. Prior to 2020, it was the administrative centre of the former Stanytsia-Luhanska Raion. Starting Mid-April 2014 pro-Russian separatists captured several towns in the Donbass region, including Stanytsia Luhanska. On 2 July 2014 unspecified planes attacked the village and the village of Kondrashovka. The Ukrainian army  denied the airstrike and blamed the damage on faulty shelling by the separatists. There is also a version that the air strike was caused by a Russian aircraft in order to discredit the Ukrainian army by accusing it of bombing residential areas. On 21 August 2014, Ukrainian forces reportedly were clearing Stanytsia Luhanska from the pro-Russian separatists. The settlement remained under control of the Ukrainian authorities. It became situated on the frontline with forces representing the Luhansk People's Republic and became regularly the victim of shelling. An early 2017 agreement between the Ukrainian army and the separatist forces  of the war in Donbass on the disengagement of forces in Stanytsia Luhanska failed to materialise. On 17 February 2022, the rebels have shelled the town and a missile hit a school, injuring 3 people. They also left half of the town without electricity. On February 26, the town was occupied by Russian Ground Forces as part of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Demographics. Native language as of the Ukrainian Census of 2001: