Alchevsk was founded in 1895 with the establishment of an iron works and named after the Russian industrialist
Oleksiy Alchevsky who founded the Donetsk–Yuryev Metallurgical Society. A local newspaper is published in the city since 1930. In 1931, Alchevsk was renamed
Voroshylovsk, after
Kliment Voroshilov, a Soviet military and party figure. As Voroshilov's personality cult was diminishing, the town was renamed
Kommunarsk in 1961. The system had already collapsed once before: in 1972, when the sole
boiler failed. Contemporary
Soviet authorities had authorized a second, back-up boiler, but did not further decentralize the system to preserve
economies of scale. In 2006, an underground
pipe cracked in unusually cold weather (nearly ), isolating the main
boiler from the system. The heat authority delayed draining the
working fluid, and water throughout the system froze and burst additional pipes, some inside the walls of residential apartments. Consequently, many apartments could not be heated even after the boilers were restored to working order. Inhabitants turned to electric
space heaters to fill the gap, but these overloaded the grid, leading to
rolling blackouts. Without liquid
tap water, the
sewer system also froze and burst a few days later. including Alchevsk. In the following
war in Donbas, the city became a part of the
self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic. In June 2020, as part of the reform of administrative divisions in Ukraine, Alchevsk was made the administrative center of
Alchevsk Raion. This new status is not recognized by the pro-Russian occupation authorities. After the
2022 Russian annexations of Southern and Eastern Ukraine, the city is now claimed by Russia itself. == Economy ==