in Yenakiieve was 34,000, and it was referred to as a town. In 1928 the town was renamed into Rykovo, after Soviet party- and statesman Alexei Rykov. After Rykov was arrested in 1937 the town was renamed Ordzhonikidze after another Soviet leader, Sergo Ordzhonikidze. The name Yenakiieve was returned to the town in 1943. By 1939 the population of the town was 88,200. During World War II Yenakiieve was under siege from Italian army auxiliary units that were seconded to the German Army. They were followed by German units. The city was attacked from 31 October 1941 and not freed until 3 September 1943. Street fighting was fierce between the end of November and beginning of December 1941. “Recruitment” of civilians as Ostarbeiter began in December 1941. In 1950 about twelve Italian POWs (prisoners of war) were put on trial, over atrocities in Yenakiieve including the destruction of a hospital. Apparently no convictions were registered, and by 1954 all Italian POWs were returned to Italy. In the 1950s several plants were put into operation: of ferro-concrete items, of construction material, of house building and automobile-repair. On September 16, 1979, on the territory of Yenakiieve in the mine “Yuny Communar” there was one of the Nuclear Explosions for the National Economy—an object “Klivazh”. In 2002 the mine was closed as non-perspective and environmentalists worried about the danger of filling the mine with water. It might cause radioactive pollution of the underground water, so pumps continue to pump water out of the abandoned mine. During the War in Donbas the city was captured by pro-Russian separatists when on 13 April 2014 pro-Russian activists captured its town hall and declared that the city was part of the separatist Donetsk People's Republic. Demographics At the time of the 2001 Ukrainian Census, the population of Yenakiieve was 104,000. Its composition was as follows: Ethnicity Russians: 51.4% Ukrainians: 45.3% Belarusians: 1.1% Armenians: 0.4% Language Russian: 89.4% Ukrainian: 9.8% Armenian: 0.2% Belarusian: 0.1% Yenakiieve City Municipality Yunokomunarivsk city municipality City of Yunokomunarivsk Town of Druzhne Karlo-Marksove town municipality Town of Karlo-Marksove Village of Novoselivka Settlement of Staropetrivske Korsun town municipality Town of Korsun Village of Verkhnya Krynka Village of Petrivske Village of Puteprovid Village of Shevchenko Settlement of Shchebenka Village of Avilovka Village of Shaposhnykove References External links Cities in Donetsk Oblast Populated places established in 1898 Cities of regional significance in Ukraine Populated places established in