Snizhne

Snizhne (Сніжне) Snezhnoye (Снежное)
City of regional significance
Mining company office in Snizhne
Flag Seal
Snizhne (Сніжне)
Coordinates: 48°01′41.8″N 38°45′56.2″E / 48.028278°N 38.765611°E / 48.028278; 38.765611Coordinates: 48°01′41.8″N 38°45′56.2″E / 48.028278°N 38.765611°E / 48.028278; 38.765611
Country	Ukraine
Oblast	Donetsk
Founded	1784
Incorporated	1938
Area
• Total	87.2 km2 (33.7 sq mi)
Population (2011)[1]
• Total	49,564
Climate	Dfb
Website	http://snezhnoe-rada.gov.ua/

Snizhne or Snezhnoye (Ukrainian: Сніжне; Russian: Снежное; until 1864 — Vasylivka — Ukrainian: Василівка; Russian: Васильевка) is a significant regional city in eastern Ukraine within the Donetsk Oblast. Along with cities of Shakhtarsk and Torez, it is surrounded by Shakhtarsk Raion, according to the regional territorial division. The eastern edge of Snizhne is adjacent to administrative border of Luhansk Oblast. Population: 48,485 (2013 est.)^[2].

During the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine the town was held by separatists. On July 15, 2014, rockets from an unidentified aircraft struck the town hitting an apartment building and a tax office, leaving at least eleven people dead and eight injured. Separatists blamed the Ukrainian Air Force for the attack, but Ukrainian sources denied it and stated that since the incident where a An-26 plane was shot down they have carried out no flights there. Instead they blamed Russian jets.^[3] After the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 on July 17, 2014, a YouTube video and photo emerged with citizen journalists claiming the material was from Snizhne and showed a Buk missile launcher.^[4] On 28 September 2016, the Joint Investigation Team, investigating into the shoot down, confirmed that the aircraft had been brought down with a 9M38 BUK missile which had been fired from a rebel-controlled field near Pervommajsk, 6 km (3.7 mi) south of Snizhne.^[5]

Fighting for the control of the town between the separatists and the Ukrainian army broke out on 28 July 2014.^[6][7][8] Snizhne remained under the separatist control of the Donetsk People's Republic.^[9]

Demographics

As of the 2001 Ukrainian Census:^[10]

Ethnicity

• Ukrainians: 51.3%
• Russians: 45.1%
• Belarusians: 1.0%
• Tatars: 0.9%
• Armenians: 0.2%
• Greeks: 0.2%

Language

• Russian: 84.1%
• Ukrainian: 14.8%
• Armenian: 0.1%
• Belarusian: 0.1%

Gallery

• 
  Mine № 9
• 
  Yuri Gagarin monument
• 
  School №1
• 
  Military museum
• 
  Church
• 
  Monument
• 
  St. Dmytro Church
• 
  Water tower
• 
  Sofino-Bridska rail station
• 
  Snizhne apartment blocks

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Snizhne.

References