The analytical center "Universitas" has compiled a rating of the worst cities in Ukraine. The ten most unattractive cities in the country include: Slavyansk, Khartsyzsk, Konstantinovka, Alchevsk, Zaporozhye, Khust, Lugansk, Krasnoperekopsk, Dnepropetrovsk And Torez. Many of the above cities are located in the Donetsk region. How did it happen that the traditionally industrially developed East of Ukraine, where the main production of the country is concentrated, lives the worst of all? Let's try to understand this injustice by analyzing each city on the list separately.
1. Slavyansk
Slavyansk is recognized as the worst city in Ukraine, which is surprising for a resort town. Writer Anton Chekhov compared this town in the north of the Donetsk region to “Gogol’s Mirgorod.” The second pearl of Donbass (after Svyatogorsk) - the city of Slavyansk - has long been famous for its mineral waters and unique mud, which the local salt lakes endow it with. And now its glory sadly spreads throughout Ukraine as the worst city in the country. The city's population is steadily declining. During the years of Ukraine's independence, the population dropped from 135,000 to 115,000 people. And this is only according to official statistics. Locals believe that the city has long been home to less than one hundred thousand. Currently, the economy of modern Slavyansk is experiencing a decline in production, which has been significantly affected by the loss of former markets for products. Most enterprises changed their form of ownership, trying to adapt to market relations, which actually led to the shutdown of all factories. According to rumors, radioactive waste from nuclear power plants was unofficially buried near the city. The once ecologically safe place has turned into a breeding ground for cancer.
2. Khartsyzsk
City in Donetsk region. Population: about 60,000 people. The city is home to a lot of metallurgical activities: the Khartsyzsk Pipe Plant, the Khartsyzsk Rope Plant - "Silur", the Ukrainian-Canadian enterprise JV "Donbass-Liberty", the Khartsyzsk Foundry - Armlit, the Khartsyzsk Metal Products Plant "Avangard" and others. Despite the strong industry, the city's social sphere is in decline. Polluted ecology, lack of quality education and prospects for young people make Khartsyzsk one of the most depressed cities in Ukraine.
3. Konstantinovka
A city of regional significance in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, the administrative center of the Konstantinovsky district. The population is about 85,000 inhabitants. Since the 1979 census, it has decreased by 15%. Konstantinovka is considered the center of the glass industry in Ukraine. A number of enterprises and the only glass research institute in Ukraine, UkrGIS, are located here. There are a number of industrial enterprises operating in the city, but as in Slavyansk and Khartsyzsk, the social sphere is in a deplorable state. The problems of quality medical care and environmental pollution greatly affect the health and longevity of the residents of Konstantinovka. As in most other cities of the Donetsk region, young people do not see any prospects for themselves here and leave either for Moscow to work, or for the megacities of Ukraine, where they can get a lower-quality education and not be afraid that they will die at 50 years old. This is exactly the average mortality rate among men in the city.
4. Alchevsk
A city of regional subordination in the Lugansk region in Ukraine, a large industrial center. The city has a population of approximately 110,000. The basis of the city’s industrial potential is the Alchevsk Metallurgical Plant (AMK OJSC) and the Alchevsk Coke and Chemical Plant (Alchevskkoks OJSC). Alchevsk became notorious due to one of the first urban infrastructure disasters in the European part of the former USSR in the winter of 2006. The accident in many ways repeated the situation in 1972, when an accident occurred at the factory boiler room, and the city was left without heating for one week. After this accident, the Soviet authorities built another boiler house, “Vostochnaya”, for the needs of Alchevsk and nearby cities (it cost 3.6 million rubles). Similar problems confront city residents every winter.
5. Zaporozhye
A city on the Dnieper River, the administrative center of the Zaporozhye region of Ukraine. It is one of the largest administrative, industrial and cultural centers in the south of Ukraine. Population - 774 thousand people. A river port and an important transit railway junction. The fourth largest industrial center of Ukraine with developed mechanical engineering, ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, chemical and construction industries. A large number of industrial enterprises within the city pollute the city air, and the situation in the city with clean water and garbage waste is also deplorable.
6. Khust
The only city from Western Ukraine represented on the list. A city of regional subordination in the Transcarpathian region, the administrative center of the Khust district. About 30,000 people live in the city. The lack of work is pushing many to go to Europe to work. The city has a very rich history, but, unfortunately, a sad future.
7. Lugansk
Regional city in eastern Ukraine, the administrative center of the Lugansk region. The population is about 460,000 people. Coal mines and the metallurgical industry create an unfavorable environmental situation in the city. The population of Lugansk is steadily declining. The work of public utilities, medical institutions and transport infrastructure leave much to be desired. The roads in Lugansk are in terrible condition.
8. Krasnoperekopsk
A city in Ukraine, in the north of Crimea. Population: about 25,000 people. About half of them are pensioners. The lack of jobs and the city's lack of prospects, coupled with a high crime rate, make it perhaps the least attractive place in Crimea.
9. Dnepropetrovsk
The regional center of the Dnepropetrovsk region with a population of about 1 million people. Dnepropetrovsk is one of the largest industrial, economic and transport centers, the center of metallurgy and the space capital of Ukraine. Ferrous metallurgy, metalworking, mechanical engineering and other heavy industries are especially developed. Many Soviet-built enterprises have now fallen into disrepair. Metallurgical plants survived the “perestroika” better than others. In general, the city is going through hard times.
10. Torez
Another city from the Donetsk region. The place of labor glory of the famous Stakhanov, that same ideological inspirer Stakhanov movement. A lot has changed since Soviet times, most coal mines are closed, and unemployed people are forced to climb through “diggers” - illegal mini-mines that litter literally the entire suburb of Torez. The unfavorable environmental situation in the city, the high level of cancer and the depressed population are the main reasons why young people try to leave this place. The population is steadily declining. If in the first years of Ukraine's independence, the number was about 120,000 people, today it is unlikely to reach 75,000.
Judge for yourself, it was in Paris that the leaders of the Ukrainian people lived and were buried: Simon Petliura, Nestor Makhno, Serge Lifar, Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, Colonel General of the UPR and other famous Ukrainians. It is here that there are several Ukrainian churches, a Ukrainian library, a Ukrainian cultural center, in the center of Paris there is a square named after T.G. Shevchenko, etc...
…
Now in more detail:
“Even the beautiful, brilliant Paris could not make me, a resident of Kiev, forget my wide, majestic Dnieper,” said Serge Lifar.
When, presenting the Order of the Legion of Honor, Charles de Gaulle invited him to become a citizen of France and addressed him: “Monsieur Lifar! You have done as much for France as few other famous Frenchmen. Isn’t it time for you to become French with a passport?” Lifar replied: “I am sincerely grateful, Mr. President, for your offer. But I have never been and will never be French, I am Ukrainian and my homeland is Ukraine.”
Sergei (Serge) Mikhailovich Lifar (Lifar) worked in Paris since 1923. In 1929, 24-year-old Serge Lifar was offered to head the Grand Opera ballet troupe. He devoted more than 30 years to this theater, was its soloist, choreographer, and teacher. In fact, he revived French ballet, its repertoire, troupe, its school and fame, becoming the founder of a new direction in ballet - “neoclassicism”.
In general, Lifar staged more than 200 ballet performances at the Grand Opera and trained 11 ballet stars. In 1947 he founded the Institute of Choreography at the Grand Opera in Paris, since 1955 he taught a course in the history and theory of dance at the Sorbonne, was rector of the University of Dance, professor at the Higher School of Music and honorary president of the National Council of Dance at UNESCO.
Lifar's grave is located in the Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois cemetery.
Being in Paris this time, we found a memorial plaque located at number 7 on Rue Castiglione (near Place Vendôme).
It says (the sign in the photo below): “Here from 1955 to 1985 lived Serge Lifar (1904-1986), an outstanding choreographer of the twentieth century, a native of Ukraine, who was the main dancer and choreographer at the Paris National Opera.”
In his suicide note addressed to his wife, Lifar signed: “Serge from Kyiv. Ukrainian to the end”...
Petliura Simon Vasylovych lived in Paris from October 1924, where he organized the publication of the weekly Trizub and continued to serve as chairman of the UPR Directory and Chief Ataman of the UPR. And on May 25, 1926, stopping at a store and looking at books on the corner of Racine Street and Saint-Michel Boulevard, he was shot by an OGPU agent. Now this place is occupied by a supermarket, where we shopped every day in 2013.
Ataman was buried in the famous Montparnasse cemetery (sector 11, grave no. 4).
Simon Petliura: “The Ukrainian people willingly adopt the best from others, have a great talent for culture, education and organization and are able to do in a short time what others need much more time to do. Only power, unity and a strong, unshakable desire for complete independence and freedom can be our brother.”
The grave was signed as “President of Ukraine,” and therefore the funeral of Symon Petlyur was a notable event for the life of the city. Below are two archival photographs from Paris that confirm this. 
Already in 1926, the Ukrainian Library and Museum named after S. Petlyura were founded in Paris and still exist. This is the oldest Ukrainian organization in Western Europe, a center of Ukrainian cultural life in France. Through the efforts of the Ukrainian emigration, the library in 1940 collected funds amounting to about 15,000 volumes, there were many sets of periodicals, and an archive of materials. It included the Symon Petliura Museum, which housed his belongings and the furnishings of the room where he lived in Paris. Branches were opened in four cities in France and Luxembourg.
The fate of the library's funds is interesting, which in 1941 was looted by the Gestapo and taken to Germany, and later a significant part of these materials ended up in Moscow, which refused to return them to Paris. But the Ukrainian persistence of the management of the Library and Museum made itself felt in 1968, when a lawsuit was won against the German government, as a result of which the management achieved compensation for losses caused during the war, which made it possible to purchase new premises and significantly expand the collection.
Now the library, the Museum and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (U.A.O.C.) named after St. Simon are located in the building at 6 rue de Palestine 75019 Paris (near the metro station - Jourdain).
I also include my photos of the building and signs below. 
Nestor Ivanovich Makhno moved to Paris in April 1925, where he lived in Vincennes, maintaining active ties with the anarchist movement, and published in the Anarchical Bulletin and Delo Truda. In the introduction to his memoirs, “The Russian Revolution in Ukraine,” Nestor writes the following:
“I have only one regret when releasing this essay into the world: it is that it is not published in Ukraine and not in the Ukrainian language. Culturally, the Ukrainian people are moving step by step towards a full definition of their individual identity, and this is important. But the fact that I cannot publish my notes in the language of my people is not my fault, but the fault of the conditions in which I find myself.”
Father Makhno died in 1934 in Paris and was buried in the most famous cemetery of the city, Père Lachaise, where he rests in the columbarium (section 87) under number 6686 (second floor). 
Mikhailo Volodymyrovych Omelyanovich-Pavlenko - an outstanding Ukrainian figure, Colonel General of the UPR Army, Ukrainian military leader, Commandant of the UGA, head of the Ukrainian Free Cossacks, Minister of Military Affairs of the UPR government in exile, lived in Paris from 1950 to 1952, when he was buried in the Pere cemetery Lachaise. His grave is decorated with the Ukrainian coat of arms and is located in section 88 (the first row from the columbarium).
Sikorsky Peter Dmitrievich (Polycarp) - Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, in 1950 he moved to the French Republic and lived near Paris. He died on October 22, 1953 in Aulnay-sous-Bois near Paris. He was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery.
Boyko Alexander Nikolaevich - leader of the UVO, OUN, cornet of the UGA, personal secretary of Yevgeny Konovalets, lived in Paris since 1931. In the same year he became the founder of the Ukrainian People's Union in France, issued in Paris in lithographic form the “Bulletin of the Ukrainian People's Union”, and then “Izvestia”. Later he founded a private Ukrainian printing house and began publishing the weekly “Ukrainian Word” in 1933, which was actually distributed throughout the foreign world and Western Ukrainian lands. During 1938-1948 chairman of the OUN in France.
On January 26, 1944 he was arrested by the Nazis for organizing the transfer of OUN members to Spain through the Pyrenees. He was in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp until October 1944.
After the war, he returned to France and worked on the restoration of the UNS, the Ukrainian Word and the Ukrainian printing house in general, and the student fund “Study, my brothers.” The almost completely destroyed printing house resumed its activities in February 1948, and in June 1949 the first post-war issue of the Ukrainian Word was published. At the same time, Alexander Boyko was a regular correspondent for the weekly “New Way” and “UNO Bulletin”. He also wrote in the almanacs “Our Cry” and “Graingrower”, published in Argentina and Brazil. In the “Ukrainian Word” he led the column “From Ukrainian Lands,” where he posted hundreds of notes under the pseudonym “Roman Didukh” and the cryptonym “RPP.”
He held the position of press and information officer of the OUN during 1954-1964, member of the OUN Senate (1964-1968).
On September 29, 1968 he died in Paris. He was buried in the Pantin cemetery.
Most likely, these are not all Ukrainians who lived in Paris and left a noticeable mark on history, but you will agree that this is enough to convincingly assert - #Parizhnash)
Although this is not all that we managed to find Ukrainian on this trip. In addition to the U.A.P.C. Church. St. Simone, about whom I wrote above, in the very heart of “musketeer” Paris, in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés quarter, is located the department of St. Vladimir the Great in Paris. As the rector of the department himself, Father Mikhail Romanyuk, writes: “The UGCC Cathedral has long become the personification of Ukraine, the center of not only spiritual, cultural, but also political life, because this is where meetings with representatives of our government, our state take place. There is a Saturday Ukrainian school of St. Vladimir the Great at the church, the director of which is Nadezhda Migal. There are currently 180 children studying at the school.”
And right here, on the famous Saint-Germain Boulevard, there is a square named after Taras Grigorievich Shevchenko, with a monument to the great Kobzar. 
And near the picturesque Parc Monceau, in the respectable 8th district of Paris, there is the Ukrainian Cultural Center, which in 2015 was supposed to be headed by the outrageous Ukrainian singer and writer Irena Karpa. But we didn’t get to meet Irena, since the center was closed on the day of our visit and we only photographed our native flag in French (and a little Ukrainian ;)) Paris :) 
Social networks have long lost their status as something frivolous, intended to while away an evening or chat with friends. Groups and publics have grown from childish entertainment for teenagers and have become a powerful tool for the forceful transformation of society.
If anyone has forgotten, let us remind you how the events of the “Arab Spring” began in 2010, after which a whole string of states in the Middle East collapsed. And these events began not on the streets, but on Facebook and Twitter. And it is thanks to retweets and reposts that the monster of the Islamic State has now arisen on the ruins of Iraq and Syria, which all of humanity has to fight.
But if the Arab countries are far from us, then they have their own example nearby - the Kiev Maidan of 2014. Where the call was made to drop everything and come to the square to support the protest against the authorities - on Mustafa Nayem’s Facebook. This is now Mustafa, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, and many of those who came to support him have long been in their graves. And then everything seemed like nice fun, just think, let's go to the square.
And there are a lot of such cases. The Internet and social networks have become a way to convey words and ideas not to tens, but to hundreds of thousands and millions. And it is naive to think that this opportunity has ceased to be used. Yes, on the contrary! They use it to the fullest. Here's a recent example.
There is an interesting, frankly speaking, group on the social network VKontakte. We won’t even hesitate to mention their name, although we understand that they will be happy with any advertising, including this one. The community is called “This is Donetsk, baby. Typical Donetsk."
Who is in this group? Let's call them directly and bluntly - Donetsk majors and those who really want to be like them. Children of rich parents and their imitators. Pathetic imitations who think that if you dress, talk and generally imitate the offspring of those who managed to steal money under the previous regime, then you too will become successful and rich.
Some of them, at the same time, are sitting in Donetsk, which for various reasons they could not leave. Others are in Ukraine or even further away. At first glance, they are just rich, angry people.
But this is only at first glance. In fact, the roots of “Typical Donetsk” go deep into Ukrainian soil, or rather, to the very top of the ruling Ukrainian political class. It is there that the true founding fathers of this community are located, pulling the invisible strings so that right now in Donetsk there is a center of hatred and contempt for the DPR.
Who is at the head of “Typical Donetsk”?
The group was founded by a certain Rostislav Kravchenko, a simple smiling guy from Donetsk. But Kravchenko is too simple and insignificant a figure to really organize the necessary processes in the public.
According to reliable information, the true levers of control are in the hands of other people. Egor Shipilov and Andrey Zamula. With them, the story is already beginning to acquire some intrigue, especially with Mr. Shipilov, who turns out to be not as simple as his ingenuous smile, with which he constantly appears in his photographs.
It turns out that Oleg Shipilov is a close friend of the current deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Yegor Firsov, a former Donetsk resident who entered the Ukrainian parliament on the list of the “Petro Poroshenko Bloc”. It’s not worth repeating what and how the pro-presidential faction in the Ukrainian parliament votes for, it’s clear as it is. But close friends of those who vote for the destruction of Donetsk run the “Typical Donetsk” public page. Coincidence? We don't think so.
But that is not all!
Shipilov is friends not only with Firsov. He dances with another Ukrainian politician, now from the Udar party, Anton Taranenko. Moreover, both Oleg Shipilov himself and his father Yegor at one time were members of the “Udar” party and it does not seem that they left it.
Here is such a tangle of Ukrainian patriots in the most “patriotic” public page in Donetsk.
What are they doing in their cozy pub? In short, they are sitting and waiting for the Donetsk People’s Republic to die or be destroyed. That’s right – “it will die or be destroyed.”
The DPR doesn’t want anything good there. And while passing the time, they become angry over the difficulties that the republic is experiencing.
It’s clear why the former Donetsk majors do this. The revolution and war deprived them, or rather, their families, of a source of large and easy income. And now, eating the stolen goods, in their worst nightmare they will not wish the DPR well.
Why this is done by those who are prevented from becoming a real major by the thickness of their wallet and proletarian origin is also understandable. They once remembered that the rich and successful must be imitated in everything, but they no longer have the courage or intelligence to give up the habit.
And now this orchestra of thieves and hangers-on does not miss a single opportunity to stick a knife in the back of our young state. They cling to everything bad that can happen, look out for every negative news, photograph everything unsightly in the city, in general, despite their bourgeois status, it’s like homeless people walking the streets and picking up garbage lying under their feet. And then they pass off the collected trash as the true picture of life in the DPR.
At the same time, those of them who remained in Donetsk sometimes lead a life as if nothing they described had ever happened in the city at all. Nothing has changed in their lives - all the same nightclubs, parties, expensive cars and other joys of a rich life. If only the curfew hadn’t gotten on my nerves, then everything would have been great! And, we almost forgot, we still need a working Donetsk City and a Donetsk-Kyiv-Donetsk plane to go to the capital to hang out and come back. There are no such airplanes anymore, what a shame!
And the other day, “Typical Donetsk” was seriously offended by the words of one of the leaders of the republic, Alexander Khodakovsky, that the DPR would find a way to occupy idle youth.
In response to this, the public quickly organized a mocking vote on the topic of what members of the “Typical Donetsk” group support: digging trenches or dancing in clubs.
Of course, the Donetsk majors, who had never held anything heavier than a martini glass in their hands, could not in sober memory vote for shovels instead of “klubeshniks”. Laughing evilly, they joked at the very idea that someone would have the courage and power to send them to forced labor. Moreover, many of them, who read the community from the screens of their smartphones, tablets or laptops, did not live in Ukraine, but, as they themselves say, “in safe areas of Donetsk.”
Now, let's think about it. What does “safe area of Donetsk” mean today? And this is an area that the DPR army does not allow Ukrainian troops to approach. And he not only prevents them from approaching, but also keeps the Ukrainian artillery at such a distance that with its shells it cannot reach the houses and apartments of the traitors. Because traitors, as is their custom, hide among normal people, who are the overwhelming majority in Donetsk. And although he hates “Typical Donetsk”, real Donetsk cannot do without it.
It's scary because!
So it turns out, on the one hand, “die the DPR with shovels and the militia,” and on the other, “ensure the safety of our homes.”
How can you ensure security? Humanity has not yet come up with another way other than to dig trenches, recruit its own army, and provide it with manpower, weapons, and ammunition. And also, the army must feel that those it protects are on its side. And it is against the latter circumstance that “Typical Donetsk” is waging a quiet but consistent struggle. Carefully, one milligram at a time, introducing into the public consciousness the poison called “And this is not our war.”
In the same way, agents of influence acted in the United States when it waged the war in Vietnam, dissuading the population of the importance and necessity of military action. As a result, America was defeated not in the jungles near Saigon, but on the lawns where hippies protested against the war.
The United States has learned the necessary lessons from this. Never since, in the numerous military campaigns that this country has waged, have widespread peaceful protests been allowed there. Not during Afghanistan, not during Iraq, not ever before. War is a national affair.
In Donetsk, campaigning is allowed. And in “Typical Donetsk”, “correct thoughts” appear from time to time. You need it - you fight. We don't need to be protected. We didn't invite you here. This is what those who were satisfied with their past life say. But not because in a past life there was no war and boutiques worked. Or rather, not only because of this. But because before the war they had everything: a business built on kickbacks and theft, money flowing like a river, an entertainment industry that was ready to provide any pleasure for cash, bought up with money, prosecutors and judges who guaranteed that there would be no punishment for pleasure will.
The Internet and TV bring news - in modern Ukraine, in terms of kickbacks, corruption and theft, nothing has changed. Therefore, yesterday's rich people sleep and see how today's Ukraine returns to Donbass, bringing with them the rules of the game to which they are accustomed.
But this won't happen! The DPR won the victory in Donbass completely and irrevocably. The Ukrainian troops have suffered a number of defeats and are seeking revenge, disregarding all agreements, and this can only be prevented by continuing the struggle, from which hidden enemies so want to dissuade the residents of the Republic.
And it’s not too late for the DPR public to think about it. Should her patriotism be toothless and peace-loving, conciliatory, compliant, agreeing to everything? We, they say, have appeared on the map recently, we don’t know much, don’t hit us too hard, please.
Isn’t it too early for the DPR to forget that last year it was we who beat the enemy! We proved that we are stronger. It was we who emerged from the ashes, emerged from the mines and factories and took power into our own hands. Are we really going to allow yesterday’s majors and thieves to force us to dance to their tune?!
Donetsk should not be “typical”. It should become the best city on earth, and for some, it should become a bone in the throat. This is our proud destiny.
If you notice an error, select the required text and press Ctrl+Enter to report it to the editors
Donetsk is once again restless: there is a huge cloud of smoke over the city. Judging by the photographs, something explodes in the area of the Donetsk airport and railway station. Users on social networks from different areas of Donetsk note a powerful explosion: they say the windows haven’t shaken like that for a long time.
UPD 13: Broken windows, broken doors: .
UPD 12: Has Donetsk got its own Guy Fawkes? A certain Johan Karlsen claims that today’s explosion at the plant was not Tochka-U, but pre-laid charges. In a new post, he gives a code: if you solve it, you can get the coordinates of the next suspected explosion site.
UPD 11: The blast wave affected not only residential buildings, the Donbass Arena, but also the Main Post Office.
Photo by the DPR press service.
UPD 10: Another short video of the explosion. It shows how powerful the blast wave is.
UPD 9: DPR press service that during a meeting between Denis Pushilin and Alexander Purgin on housing and communal services issues, a missile strike was launched on Donetsk.
UPD 8: New photos of the damaged Donbass Arena + video.
UPD 7: The ATO forces did not conduct any shelling on the territory of Donetsk, said the speaker of the ATO headquarters, Vladislav Seleznev. According to him, the ATO forces have nothing to do with the strong explosion that residents of all areas of Donetsk heard today.
UPD 6: The mayor's office reports: at 12:10 a powerful explosion occurred in the city. According to preliminary data, it occurred in the area of the Donetsk state-owned chemical products plant. A strong blast wave swept across the city. According to reports from residents in many areas, not only glass, but also entire window frames in buildings and houses were blown out. The details of the incident are being clarified.
UPD 5: new photos added
Photo from the group on VKontakte “Donetsk is a typically Ukrainian city.”
UPD 4: new video and photo from Donbass Arena added.
Photo by Sergei Kozhemyakin.
UPD 3: new explosion videos added.
UPD 2: apparently, the blast wave hit the Donbass Arena, photo below.
UPD: new photos added. Residents report that the shell hit the area with the SBU building, but information differs and there is no exact information yet.
