Krasnyi Luch

The town was founded as Kryndachivka (Russian Krindachyovka)[2] in the last years of the 19th century.[3][4]

It became one of the most important coal mining centres of the Donets Basin.[2][3]

A local newspaper has been published here since September 1920.[5] In December 1920 the city was renamed as Krasnyi Luch (lit. "red beam"). Krasnyi Luch was designated as a city in 1926.[3][4]

The city was under German occupation from June 1942 to September 1943.[3] The local Jewish population was killed along with other categories of victims, such as Communists, and were thrown into the well of the Bogdan coal mine. The total number of victims was about 2,000.[6]

In January 1965 the city had a population of 101,000 people.[7]

In January 1989 the city population was 113,278 people.[8] It was an important coal-mining centre.[4] There were several coal-enriching plants, a machine-tool factory, light industries and a railway station.[2]

In January 2013 the city population was 82,765 people.[9]

Since spring 2014, Krasnyi Luch has been controlled by the Luhansk People's Republic.[10]

Under the Ukrainian decommunization laws the city was renamed on 12 May 2016 by the Ukrainian parliament to Khrustalny.[11][12] This has had no local effect, since they don't control the area.[10]

As of the Ukrainian Census of 2001:[13]

Ethnicity

• Ukrainians: 49.2%
• Russians: 46.1%
• Belarusians: 1.1%

Language

• Russian: 87.8%
• Ukrainian: 10.4%
• Armenian: 0.2%
• Belarusian: 0.1%

On the right is a picture of the Wall of Honor. Such walls were installed in every oblast seat throughout the Soviet Union. With the dissolution of the Soviet state those landmarks were mostly removed, but in some instances were retained as relics of the past.

Light heavyweight fighter Nikita Krylov originates from Krasnyi Luch.[14]

On August 1, 1943, the well-known WWII fighter pilot Lydia Litvyak took off from a base at Krasnyy Luch, to the last mission from which she never came back.