Kostiantynivka (, ; ) is an industrial city in Donetsk Oblast, eastern Ukraine. Kostiantynivka is considered the capital of the glass industry of Ukraine. Together with neighboring cities, it forms the Kramatorsk agglomeration. During the Soviet era, the city developed into a major centre for the production of ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, glass, iron, zinc, steel, chemical, and construction industries, as well as an important transit railway junction. It was the administrative center of the Kostiantynivka Raion until 2020, although it did not belong to it.
After the raion was abolished, Kostiantynivka was incorporated into the Kramatorsk Raion and Kostiantynivka urban hromada. Its population was approximately The population declined sharply due to Russian offensives towards the city, from ~15,000 in February 2025, ~8500 in July 2025, to ~6800 in August 2025. In late 2025, the city became an active battleground between Russian and Ukrainian military forces. By early 2026, the Donetsk Regional State Administration estimated the population of Kostiantynivka to be at ~2,800.
Geography The city is located in the northern part of the region on the Kryvyi Torets River (a tributary of the Kazennyi Torets in the Severskyi Donets basin). It is a railway junction. The distance to Donetsk is 55 km by road and 65 km by rail. The distance to Kyiv is 750 km by road and 778 km by rail.
Kostiantynivka is the southernmost city that makes up Donetsk fortress belt in Donetsk, Ukraine.
History Foundation Archaeological research in the former Kostiantynivka Raion has shown that the region was settled during the Early Paleolithic, 150,000–100,000 years ago.Konstantinovka: Guide. B. N. Dontsov, S. I. Kolesnikov. Donetsk — 1984. From the time of the Crimean Tatars raid of 1769, there are references to Zaporozhian Cossacks settling in the territory of the Konstantinovsky District.Journal of Field Marshal Prince A. A. Prozorovsky 1769-1776 p. 349
In 1812, Kostiantynivka was founded by a landowner named Panteleimon Nomikossov, who built the settlement in honor of his oldest son, Kostiantyn. In the mid-19th century, the village of Konstantinovka, named after the owner, arose on land inherited by the landowner's son. By 1859, 29 people lived there, while Santurinovka had 280. It was part of the Yekaterinoslav Governorate.
Emergence of industry In 1869, with the construction of the Kursk-Kharkiv-Azov Railway, a railway station opened near Konstantinovka. In 1880 it was connected to the Kharkiv-Sevastopol Railway. The transformation of Konstantinovka into a railway hub contributed to the industrial development of the area.
In 1885, a 20-bed zemstvo hospital was opened in Dmitrievskoye. In March 1892, the Konstantinovka Railway was commissioned. The development of the city and its industrial sector were due to significant financial and managerial contributions from citizens of Belgium.
On 11 August 1895, Podsaul Dmitry Konstantinovich Nomikosov (grandson of the city's founder, Nomikosov) received 6,756.75 rubles in gold as collateral from Belgian subjects for 210 desyatins of land in the Krivoy Torets River floodplain, along the railroad. Years 1895–1897 — A glass and chemical factory were built in Santurinovka by the Belgian "Anonymous Society of Donetsk Glass and Chemical Factories."
In 1897, Ceramics and iron-rolling (metallurgical) factories, as well as a bottle factory, built by Belgian entrepreneurs, began production. A majolica factory began operating. The total number of people employed at these enterprises was 2,500. The village of Konstantinovka and the station settlement became a single settlement. By 1897, its population was 3,100. In 1899, a mirror polished glass and mirror factory was built.
In July 1900, a general strike engulfed all of Konstantinovka's factories. The unrest, which involved over 1,000 people, erupted after Belgians beat two workers. Outraged factory workers threw stones at the foreigners' cottages. The next day, all the factories were closed. A rally was held, where workers called for a fight against the exploiters. A 1902 railway directory notes that the village's monotony is reminiscent of former military settlements.Illustrated Companion to the Kursk-Kharkov-Sevastopol Railway. Kh., 1902, pp. 215, 216.
In April 1912, a citywide strike took place in the town in response to the police murder of a bottle factory worker, the revolutionary I.S. Bobylev. By 1915, the town had two hospitals, an elementary school, a college, and a private gymnasium. The growth of industry had a positive impact on the town's population growth and made it attractive to migrant workers. The population also increased due to refugees from the country's front-line regions during the First World War. If in 1914, 1,755 people worked at the metallurgical plant, then by October 1917, there were already 2,436 people.History of Cities and Villages of the Ukrainian SSR. Donetsk Oblast. Kyiv - 1976
Revolution of 1917
In 1917, 60% of the population of Konstantinovka could not read or write.Donetsk Regional Party Archives. f. 115, op. 1, d. 591, l. 62; d. 629, l. 8. On 2 March 1917, news of the revolutionary events in Petrograd became known in Konstantinovka. With the tsar's abdication, the bans on political and social activity in the village were lifted. This gave impetus to the development of the Ukrainian national movement among workers. The development of the political movement in the village occurred with the assistance of the Ukrainian public organization Prosvita.
On 18–20 April 1918, the UNR Army and the Donetsk group of Colonel Sikevich, together with the "army of Central European countries" (Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey, Germany), expelled the Red Army troops and established the authority of the Ukrainian People's Republic in the city."History of the Ukrainian Army", p. 418, "History of the First World War 1914–1918", p. 273.
In April, Ukrainian state symbols appeared in the city for the first time—the flag, coat of arms, seal with the trident, and the Ukrainian hryvnia. The city's commandant was esaul Znachkovy.Donetsk Regional Party Archives. f. 16.1.61 p., 72, 83
In November 1918, Konstantinovka was captured by the Red Army, but in December it fell to Krasnovites (a unit of the White Movement). Subsequently, until 19 February 1919, Konstantinovka was a frontline town and changed hands more than thirty times between the "Reds" and the "Whites."
13 January 1919 (31 December 1918, Julian Calendar|Old Style) – the day of the execution of 13 bottle factory workers. Because the population did not betray the Reds, the White Guards gathered factory workers in the square near the bottle factory and shot every tenth.List of those executed: Wenzel Ivan Avgustovich, Gerasimenko Philip Vasilyevich, Ilyashenko Emelyan Illarionovich, Kozhich Mikhail Fedorovich, Kuznetsov Ivan Ivanovich, Kolesnikov Marat Timofeevich, Korablev Semyon Ivanovich, Parshikov Matvey Borisovich, Probeev Ivan Yakovlevich, Prokofiev Pyotr Grigorievich, Solodov Andrey Kirillovich, Filippov Vasily Prokofievich, 13th - unknown
On 19 February, as a result of a long battle, the Red Army drove out the Whites,Ukrainian RSR during the civil war of 1917-1920, vol. 2, pp. 191, 192, 194, 195. however, at the end of May they were driven out by the White Army, and until December 1919 the village was under the control of the White Guards.
Soviet period (1919–1941) At the end of December 1919, Red Army troops of the Southern Front, with the assistance of the rebels, drove Denikin's forces out of the village. In January 1920, the Konstantinovo-Druzhkovsky District was created. G. O. Bondarenko became the first chairman of the executive committee. Afterwards, it was administratively part of the Donets Governorate of Ukraine. Also, the first theater in the Donetsk region opened in Konstantinovka.
In November 1920, by decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR, the factories were nationalized. On 7 March 1923, the Konstantinovsky district with its center in the village of Konstantinovka was created as part of the Bakhmut district district. In 1925, a tannery was built (now the Konstantinovsky Extract and Tannery Factory).
On 28 February 1926, Konstantinovka was designated an urban-type settlement. Its population was 25,000. During the years of accelerated industrialization, a zinc plant (now Ukrtsink), a refractory products plant, and a bakery were built, and the Avtosteklo plant (formerly a mirror factory) was reconstructed. In the 1930s, the Konstantinovka factories produced ruby stars of the Moscow Kremlin, a sarcophagus for the Mausoleum of V. I. Lenin, marble (colored glass) for the Moscow Metro stations, and a crystal fountain for the World's Fair in New York.
On 19 September 1930, the Konstantinovka city-district newspaper "Banner of Industry" was founded. In December 1930, the 1st State Theater of Russian Drama of Donbass opened its doors.80 years of the Konstantinovka Theater // Konstantinovka in the Mirror of the "Province". The city had sixteen schools with 7,000 students, and by 1939, more than 14,000 children were studying in 25 schools. Between 1931 and 1940, eight new schools were built, employing 524 teachers. In 1931, a tram line was built from the city center to the train station, and by 1940, its length had reached 10 km.
In 1932, a gliding school was established, later reorganized into a flying club. The Konstantinovsky Flying Club trained over 1,000 pilots. On 4 April 1932 by resolution of the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee, signed by the chairman G. Petrovsky and secretary Yury Voitsekhovsky, granted city status of urban-type settlement to Konstantinovka. By 1939, its population reached 96,000, 68% of whom were factory workers. The municipal infrastructure was reconstructed. Industrial, pedagogical, and medical schools, as well as a glass ceramics technical school, were established, the A.S. Pushkin Russian Drama Theater opened.
Since February 1934, the mirror factory was renamed "Avtosteklo." Over the course of 10 years (1928-1937), the area of green space increased fourteenfold. By 1940, adult illiteracy had been nearly eliminated. Two workers' faculties were opened. The A.S. Pushkin Russian Drama Theater, two Palaces of Culture, four clubs, and sixteen libraries were active.
Second World War
In mid-October 1941, fighting between the Soviet Army and the Wehrmacht began in the Konstantinovka area outside the city. On the Soviet side, soldiers of the 393rd Rifle Division fought on the approaches to the city. On 28 October 1941, the city was captured by Wehrmacht soldiers.Handbook "Liberation of Cities: Handbook on the Liberation of Cities during the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945." M. L. Dudarenko, Yu. G. On 1 December 1942, the German military command abolished the Directorate and placed the enterprises under its direct control. Also on that day, the Central Trade Depot opened in Konstantinovka, tasked with supplying industrial goods to the population.
During the German occupation of World War II, the Germans operated a forced labour camp in the town. Trams operated in coupled pairs, with one carriage for civilians and the other for soldiers. The tram infrastructure was destroyed by the retreating Wehrmacht in 1943 and rebuilt in 1944.
On the night of 6 September 1943, during the Donbas strategic offensive (August 1943), the 135th Red Banner Order of Kutuzov, 2nd Class Tank Brigade of the 23rd Tank Corps under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Beznoshchenko took control of Konstantinovka. This date is subsequently celebrated as Konstantinovka City Day.
Post-war years