Lyman, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine

🇺🇦 Lyman (Лиман,  Liman)), formerly Krasnyi Lyman (Красний Лиман, Krasny Liman, 'Red Lyman') from 1925 to 2016, is a city in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. Administratively, it is incorporated as a city of oblast significance. Until 2016, it also served as the administrative centre of Lyman Raion, though it was not part of the raion. It still serves as the administrative centre of Lyman hromada. In October 2022, following two battles during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the population was estimated to be approximately 5,000 by authorities.

History Archaeologists have discovered Neolithic stone sculptures in the Lyman district and Scythian remains from the fourth and third centuries BCE. According to the Russian language Entsiklopedicheskii slovar (vol 34, page 687) in the seventeenth century, a fort was built there to defend the southern borders of Sloboda Ukraine from the attacks of the Crimean Tatars. It is first mentioned in documents of the mid-1600s. In the course of the administrative reform carried out in 1708 by Moscow tsar Peter I, Lyman was explicitly mentioned as one of the towns included to Azov Governorate. The town was given the prefix Krasnyi ("red") in 1925 for ideological purposes by the Soviet government.

Economy: Industry Lyman is an important railway junction, 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.