Lysychansk

Lysychansk stands above the Siverskyi Donets in the coal-bearing hills of the Donets basin. Its origins are tied to the opening of one of the region's earliest coal mines, at Lysychya Balka, and to the foundry established on the Luhan River to supply guns and shot for the Black Sea fleet. The mining settlement founded in 1795 marked an early stage in the industrial use of the basin's coal.

Extraction began in 1796. Coal from Lysychya Balka was sent to the Luhansk works, where fuel was needed for iron production. The name Lysychansk appeared in print in an 1829 mining journal in connection with the deposit. The pits and the settlement around them brought a new industrial presence to a region long associated with the river frontier and the steppe.