Lyman, Ukraine

Pre-founding

Archaeologists have discovered Neolithic stone sculptures in the Lyman district and Scythian remains from the fourth and third centuries BCE.^[7][8]

Founding and early history

In 1646, the "Mayaka" fort was built 18 kilometres (11 mi) away from the location of modern Lyman, as part of the larger effort to defend the southern border of Tsardom of Russia from the attacks of the Crimean Tatars, especially along the Donets river. Lyman itself was founded by the Izium Cossack Regiment^[6] in 1667/1678 as a fortified town near the Mayaka fortress.^[7][8] In the course of the administrative reform carried out in 1708 by Moscow tsar Peter I, Lyman was explicitly mentioned as one of the towns included to Azov Governorate.^[9][10]

20th century

From 1904 to 1910, a railway was constructed that passed through Lyman. This railway stimulated growth of civilian settlement in the area, where earlier settlers had been entirely military.^[8]

Lyman changed hands numerous times during World War I and the Ukrainian War of Independence.^[8] In April 1918, Lyman was taken over by the Central Powers,^[7] and passed to the Ukrainian State. In December 1918 it was captured by the Soviets, then in April 1919 it was captured by White Russian forces, and in December 1919 it was recaptured by the Soviets.^[7] Afterwards it was administratively part of the Donets Governorate of Ukraine.^[11][12][13] The town was given the prefix Krasnyi ("red") on 9 January 1925 by the Soviet government.^[7][8] According to the 1926 Soviet census, Krasnyi Lyman had a population of 4,800 people.^[8]

Krasnyi Lyman received city status in 1938, and its population continued to grow: by 1939, it had a population of 25,600. During World War II, Krasnyi Lyman was occupied by Nazi Germany between 7 July 1942 and 3 February 1943.^[8]

The city's population continued to grow after the end of the war. In 1988, Krasnyi Lyman became a city of regional significance.^[8]

Russo-Ukrainian War

In June 2014, the city was the scene of the battle of Krasnyi Lyman during the war in Donbas.^[14] On 5 June the town returned to Ukrainian control.^[15] Following the 2015 law on decommunization the city returned to its original name Lyman, removing the prefix Krasnyi.^[16] The change was approved by the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament) on 4 February 2016.^[16]

Lyman is an important railway junction. During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Lyman was seized by Russian troops on 27 May 2022.^[17][18] The Russian occupiers changed the city's name back to the Soviet name Krasnyi Liman shortly thereafter.^[19] The control of Lyman, while it is not a large city, gave Russia and its proxies control of a key road that leads to Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.^[17][18] From 10 September, Ukrainian troops advanced to Lyman as part of a counteroffensive launched in Kharkiv Oblast, and engaged Russian troops in a battle.^[20][21] On 1 October, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman announced that Russian forces were withdrawing from the city, hours after Russian president Vladimir Putin had declared Donetsk Oblast to have been annexed by Russia.^{[22][23][24][25]}

The largely destroyed city has still been regularly shelled by Russia after the battles.^[26] On 8 July 2023, the Russian Armed Forces shelled the residential area in the center of Lyman with 9M55K-series Smerch cluster munition. Lyman was at the time approximately 15 kilometers west of Russian-occupied territories. The bombing killed 9 civilians, while 13 were wounded.^[27][28][29]

In November 2025, Russian forces entered southern part of Lyman, and the city became contested.^[30] On 21 December 2025, a Ukrainian military observer Kostyantyn Mashovets reported and confirmed that the Russian forces currently occupy positions in southeastern Lyman.^[31]