Early history Scarce historical documents do not provide information of previous settlement in the area, but archaeological excavations in the area show that it was populated. In the second half of the 17th and early 18th centuries, the area in which Kramatorsk was to develop was heavily populated by Cossacks from the
Hetmanate, particularly Oril Palatinate of
Zaporizhian Sich which was liquidated in 1775. In 1799 it was added to
Izyum uyezd (county) of
Sloboda Ukraine Governorate. The station was originally called Kram-na-Tore in 1868 but this was later contracted into Kramatorsk and the town of Kramatorsk developed around the railway station, becoming a major urban settlement in the north of
Donetsk Oblast with several heavy machine production facilities. In 1885 in area were found deposits of chaulk, sand, sandstone, valuable clays, mineral dyes which provided construction of building materials. During
World War II, it was occupied by
Nazi Germany between 20 October 1941 and 6 February 1942 and again between 27 February 1942 and 6 September 1943. Between 1980 and 1989, several people
were exposed to a radiological source in one of the apartment buildings, resulting in 6 deaths and at least 17 cases of
radiation sickness.
Russo-Ukrainian War On 12 April 2014, at the same time as
events in nearby Sloviansk, the police station in Kramatorsk
was seized by armed pro-Russian militants in military uniform, and later the city council was too. Kramatorsk remained under pro-Russian separatist control, until July 2014. There would be a series of incidents in those three months. Located only 13 km from
Sloviansk, which became a separatist stronghold, Kramatorsk would also be under separatist control, yet in a different situation. Unlike Sloviansk, which had high profile figures
Vyacheslav Ponomarev and
Igor Girkin/Strelkov associated with it, Kramatorsk was not notable in this sphere. Further, while the Ukrainian army did not enter Sloviansk in its months under separatist control, they made several entries into Kramatorsk in this time. On 5 July, after almost three months, Ukrainian forces finally retook control of Kramatorsk, as part of sweeping territorial gains at that time, including nearby
Sloviansk. In October 2014, Kramatorsk was made the provisional
administrative center of Donetsk Oblast after the administration relocated from
Mariupol. On 10 February 2015, Kramatorsk was
shelled by pro-Russian forces, leaving 17 people dead and 60 injured. On 8 April 2022, during the
Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kramatorsk was subjected to missile strikes. The Kramatorsk railway station
was hit by Tochka-U missiles which killed at least 57 people and wounded at least 109 others.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of the Donetsk Oblast, said thousands of people had been at the station at the time the two missiles struck. On 19 April 2022, Russian troops launched rocket attacks on Kramatorsk, as a result of which one person was killed and three were injured. On 21 April 2022, British Defence Ministry intelligence reported that Russian troops in the Donetsk Oblast were advancing towards Kramatorsk. However, in early September 2022, Ukraine launched
a major counteroffensive, regaining several settlements in the Kharkiv Oblast. This relieved the pressure on Kramatorsk with the recapture of
Lyman by Ukrainian forces on 1 October 2022. On 27 June 2023,
a Russian missile strike killed at least 11 people and injured over 60 in a pizza restaurant in the center of the city. As part of broader offensive efforts in Donetsk Oblast, Russian forces advanced in direction of Kramatorsk, making it a frontline city. On 10 September 2025, Ukrainian authorities ordered the evacuation of children and their guardians from some areas in and around the city, citing increased drone activity. ==Geography==