Shchastya


Shchastya is a town in Novoaidar Raion in Luhansk Oblast of Ukraine. Population:.
Just north of Shchastya, there is the Luhansk power station, a large powerplant built in the 1950s. The town of Shchastya is situated on the river Seversky Donets. During the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine, the city became a key site of fighting.

History

The village of Shchastya was founded in 1754.
In 1953, construction began on the Luhansk power station. Shchastya received town status in 1963.
In 2014 Shchastya was controlled by the separatist Lugansk People's Republic from late April 2014 till the Ukrainian army retook the city on 14 June 2014. It was mainly retaken by the volunteer fighters of the Aidar battalion who according to Amnesty International then with “virtually no oversight or control” committed war crimes in Shchastya and nearby cities. According to Shchastya residents this behaviour continued until Aidar was incorporated into the Ukrainian army in spring 2015.
On 5 August 2014, a monument of Lenin was removed from the city of Shchastya.
To facilitate the governance of Luhansk Oblast during the War in Donbass, the Verkhovna Rada on 7 October 2014 made some changes in the administrative divisions, so that the localities in the government-controlled areas were grouped into districts. In particular, Shchastya was transferred from Luhansk Municipality to Novoaidar Raion.
On 9 February 2016 112 Ukraine reported that part of the settlement was under control of Ukrainian forces.

Demographics

Native language as of the Ukrainian Census of 2001: