Lozova


Lozova or Lozovaya is a city in Kharkiv Oblast, eastern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Lozova Raion. Lozova hosts the administration of Lozova urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. The city population was Lozova is the 2nd largest city in Kharkiv Oblast after Kharkiv in terms of population.

Etymology

The name "Lozovaya" comes from the word "vine." According to one version of the origin of the city's name, the Lozovaya River flowed through Lozovaya. According to another, the banks of this river were filled with vines, which gave the river, and then the city, its name.
The famous Soviet writer Vasily Yan writes about the name "Lozovaya."

History

Foundation

Lozovaya was founded in 1869 as a station settlement in Kharkov Governorate of the Russian Empire in connection with the construction of the Kursk-Kharkiv-Azov Railway. On December 23, 1869, the first train of the Kursk-Kharkov-Azov Railway passed through Lozovaya. Its construction initiated the development of the region, as grain-producing regions were connected to the seaports of the Russian Empire, which exported grain.
In the second half of the 19th century, the Dnieper Railway, opened in 1875, also saw the construction of the Lozovaya-Sevastopol Railway, which gave further impetus to the development of the entire southern region of the Russian Empire. In 1902, a new railway line was built—Lozovaya—Poltava, connecting the Donbass with the western region.
Before the World War I, Lozovaya had two parts: Zarudnevskaya and Avilovskaya. Zarudnevskaya, a well-appointed part, was home to merchants, traders, and commoners. The houses were made of stone, and there was a cinema, a merchant club, and a city garden. The Avilovskaya part, near the station, was home to railroad workers: switchmen, conductors, and engine drivers; artisans and other hired laborers. Living conditions here were worse: the houses were poor, wooden, often wattle and daub huts; there were no sidewalkss.

Russian Civil War (1917-1919)

During the Civil War, in December 1917, a 30,000-strong corps of military units led by Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko launched an offensive deep into Slobozhanshchina. After capturing Kharkov, a combined detachment of Red Guards and soldiers of the 30th Infantry Regiment under the command of Nikolay Rudnev began advancing toward Pavlograd. On December 14, the Red Army soldiers approached Lozovaya station, after which, on the third day of fighting, having pushed back small detachments of the Lozovsky Haidamaka Kuren and the Pavlograd Free Cossacks the active Ukrainian army that had arrived to reinforce it, they occupied the settlement.
Soviet power lasted less than four months: on April 8, 1918, Lozovaya was recaptured by the 3rd Haidamaka Regiment of the Zaporizhian Division of the UPR Army under the command of General Alexander Natiev with the support of troops from Austria-Hungary and Kaiser's Germany.

Interwar period (1920–1941)

From its founding until 1926, Lozovaya was part of the Pavlograd District of the Yekaterinoslav Governorate. In July 1926, it was transferred to the Kharkiv Governorate. Since 1929, it has been in the Kharkiv Oblast. A local newspaper has been published in Lozova since August 1929. In August 1929, publication of a local newspaper began.
In 1932–33, during the Holodomor, the population of Lozovaya suffered less than residents of surrounding villages, as the settlement was considered industrial, and workers received rations. On October 19, 1938, Lozovaya was granted city status. In 1939, the city's population was 21,975 people.

Great Patriotic War (1941–1945)

During the Great Patriotic War, the city changed hands several times. The first Wehrmacht units entered the city on October 11, 1941, and the city was [Occupation of the USSR by the troops of the Third Reich and its allies|occupied by German troops].
Fierce fighting in the Lozovaya area took place in January 1942 during the Red Army's Barvenkovo–Lozovaya offensive. On January 27, 1942, the city was liberated from German forces by troops of the Southwestern Front Southwestern Front: the 6th Army 6th Army, consisting of the 270th Rifle Division 270th Rifle Division.
On May 22–23, 1942, after the the failure of the Soviet offensive on Kharkov, the city was reoccupied. On February 11, 1943, it was liberated by troops of the Southwestern Front during the Voroshilovgrad Operation: the 1st Guards Army consisting of: the 35th Guards Rifle Division and the 4th Guards Rifle Corps.
On February 21, 1943, it was occupied for the third time. During the occupation, the city housed two concentration camps for Soviet prisoners of war, where the mortality rate in winter reached up to 100 people per day. Thousands of prisoners and Jews were shot in Zayachyaya Balka. Partisan detachments were active in the city, regularly distributing anti-fascist propaganda leaflets and carrying out bombings and sabotage at Lozovaya station. Partisan activity intensified particularly in 1943, during the Battle of Kursk.
On September 16, 1943, the city was liberated from German troops by Soviet troops of the Southwestern Front during the Donbas strategic offensive (August 1943):

Post-war period

After its liberation, the city was completely restored. In the 1950s, a new railway station was built. The restoration of the railway junction and the construction of the new station were carried out under the supervision of General-Chief of the 3rd rank Hero of Socialist Labor Mikhail Bondarenko by the restoration work department of the Southern Railway and the Yuzhtransstroy trust. In 1953, there were several railway maintenance companies, four secondary schools, two libraries, a House of Culture and one stadium.
In January 1959, the city's population was 27,100. In January 1970 - 35,600 people. In 1972, the population was 38,800 people. In 1975, the city's population was 49,200. In January 1989 the population was 72,991 people, the basis of the city's economy at that time were mechanical engineering, metalworking, railway transport enterprises and the food industry.
The city was evacuated on 27 August 2008 due to a fire in an arsenal. However, there were no serious casualties or deaths and caused significant material damage. On August 28, 2008, a gas distribution station near a military unit exploded due to a fire., the population within a 3 km radius was temporarily evacuated.
As of the beginning of 2009, the population was 59,400, with the economy based on the forge and mechanical plant, the Traktorodetal combine plant, a metalworking plant, and railway maintenance enterprises. In January 2013, the population was 58,307 people.
Until 18 July 2020, Lozova was incorporated as a city of oblast significance and the center of the Lozova Municipality. The municipality was abolished in July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Kharkiv Oblast to seven. The area of Lozova Municipality was merged into Lozova Raion.

Russian invasion of Ukraine

Russia started an invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Lozova has come under attack several times since the beginning of Russian invasion of Ukraine as it is one of the main railway hubs and a city of strategic significance.
  • On 24 February 2022 at 5:52 am, a radar station located in the south of the city near Avilovka raion was hit by three Russian missiles which saw the devastation of the radar station and a gas transit station nearby.
  • On 20 May 2022, a Russian missile system fired three rockets, according to Ukrainian sources; two of them were anticipated by the Ukrainian anti-rocket system but the third one hit the city's Cultural Centre. According to the ministry of emergency affairs of Ukraine, 11 people were injured but no one died. Russian authorities made no comment but on some unofficial Twitter handles of pro-Russian forces, it was claimed that the Ukrainian Territorial Defence Brigade was hiding in the Cultural House building.
  • On August 5, 2025 the Sevostopil side of the station was badly damaged by a Russian Drone attack, and as a result a station railway mechanic died while ten passengers were badly injured. Among them there were two children under 10.
As of January 1, 2025, the population was 60,000.

Geography

The city is located at the source of the Lozovaya River, which flows into the Britai River after 12 km. The villages of Domakha, Ukrainske, and Lesovskoye are adjacent to the city.

Climate

Lozovaya's climate is moderately continental. It is drier than Kharkiv's climate and is classified as a steppe climate. The average July temperature is +22 to +25 degrees Celsius, and January temperatures are -5 to -8 degrees Celsius. Precipitation is approximately 500–550 mm per year. Winds are easterly and westerly.

Culture

Lozovaya had a well-developed cultural, sports, and recreational sector. The city's long-standing Lozovaya Palace of Culture was destroyed by a Russian missile strike during the Russian invasion in 2022.
There were clubs and clubs for children and teenagers, including the Lozovaya Children's Art Center. Lozovaya's sports are represented by several youth sports schools: Yunost, Olimpiya, and Lokomotiv. A significant number of athletes in the city compete in wrestling, as well as basketball, volleyball, and football. The city also has the Lokomotiv Stadium. The Lozovaya Football Club has competed at the regional and national levels.

Attractions

;Main Attractions
  • Dikogo Street — Mass grave of Soviet soldiers. 93 soldiers are buried there.
  • Oktyabrskaya Street — Mass grave of Soviet soldiers. 456 soldiers are buried there.
  • Locomotive Depot — Monument to fellow countrymen. 1941-1945.
  • City Cemetery — Mass grave of Soviet soldiers. 507 soldiers are buried.
  • Victory Day Park
  • Archangel Michael Convent
  • Railway Station. The station building was destroyed by the retreating occupiers, and after the 1941-1945 war, it was rebuilt according to the design of chief architect E. Lymar and architect Zeitlin. The current building of the Lozovaya station was commissioned in 1950. Even before the war, the design was exhibited at the World's Fair in Paris and won the Grand Prix. It was implemented in a greatly simplified form.
  • Smolensk Cathedral
;Parks and squares
  • Victory Park
  • Druzhba Arboretum
  • S. V. T. G. Shevchenko
  • Lozovaya Heroes' Square
  • Zheleznodorozhnik Park
;Monuments
  • Monument to the Soldiers of the UNR
  • Memorial to the Liberators of Lozovaya from the Nazi Invaders
  • Monument to T. G. Shevchenko
  • Monument to the "Lozovsky" Divisions
  • Monument to the People's Militia
  • Bust of Fyodor Suprun
  • T-34 tank in honor of Nikolai Kucherenko, one of the tank's designers and a native of Lozovaya
  • MiG-21F-13 in Pobeda Park
  • The Hammer and Sickle monument was dismantled in the winter of 2015.
  • Memorial plaque in honor of Lozovsky
  • Monument to V. I. Lenin was dismantled in the summer of 2016.

Demographics

As of the 2001 Ukrainian census, the city had a population of 64,627. The ethnic and linguistic composition was as follows:

Economy

The city has many retail establishments selling various goods wholesale and retail.
The largest retail establishments are:
  • Central Market. Located in the city center.
  • Yuzhny Market. Located in the fifth microdistrict.
  • Yugo-Zapadny Market in the third microdistrict.
  • Yantar Market in the fourth microdistrict.
  • The city has supermarkets of the wholesale and retail chains ATB Market, Silpo, Posad, and Spar. There are three ATB stores in the city, one Silpo, one Spar, and two Posad.

Industry

Lozovaya is one of the main industrial centers of the Slobozhanshchyna, the second largest city in the Kharkiv Oblast in terms of production volume. The city has a diverse industry, but the leading ones are mechanical engineering, light industry, and food processing. The city is home to numerous enterprises, the largest of which are:
  • The Lozovsky Forge and Mechanical Plant is the largest plant in Lozovaya and the main manufacturer of stampings in the CIS. Its products include stampings and axles for tractors and vehicles, and a contract is being fulfilled to manufacture hulls for the BTR-3 and BTR-4.
  • Lozova Metalworking Plant
  • Lozova Traktorodetal Plant
  • Lozova Molagro Plant
  • Lozova Sewing Factory
  • Ukrspetsvagon UGC
  • Lozovsky Dairy Plant
  • Lozovsky Printing House

Transportation

Lozova is a main rail hub within the Kharkiv Oblast. The city is also crossed by highways P-51 and T-2113. A road junction on the Kharkiv - Pavlograd T-2107 highway. Bus station: services to Kharkiv, Donetsk, Dnipro, and in summer, Berdyansk and Kyrylivka.
In the spring of 1983, the Kharkiv branch of the Ukrkommunproekt Institute developed a project to build trolleybus lines. The first line was to connect the southwestern part of the city with the city center, the train station, and the industrial zone. A new bridge and overpass over the railway were planned for the trolleybus line. The project was never implemented.
City bus routes:
  • 1-Ring 1
  • 2-4 microdistrict-Rynok
  • 3-Ring 3
  • 4-4 microdistrict-Brichuka Street
  • 5-4 microdistrict-Gersivanovsky Khutor
  • 6-Domakha-Rynok
  • 7-6 microdistrict-Rynok
  • 8-4 microdistrict-Brichuka Street
  • 412-Domakha-Svetlovshchina
  • 430-4 microdistrict-Bratolyubovka
  • 1687-4 microdistrict-Panyutino
  • 1688-4 microdistrict-Panyutino
  • 1689-4 microdistrict-Khlebnoye
  • 1691-Rynok-Panyutino
  • 4 Chernigovskoye Microdistrict
  • 4th Microdistrict - Svetlovshchina
Lozovaya is a major railway junction.
From Lozovaya Station, railway lines run to Kharkiv, Poltava, Slavyansk, Sinelnikovo, and Simferopol. There is also a Lozovaya Locomotive Depot. Some trains to Crimea pass through Lozovaya, and several trains to the Caucasus run in the summer. During Soviet times, approximately 90% of all trains to the Caucasus traveled along the Kharkiv line via Lozovaya, but after the collapse of the USSR, all these trains were transferred to the Voronezh line.
The city is home to several Motor Transport Enterprises : No. 16309, 16347, and others.
The Lozovaya Locomotive Depot of the Southern Railway's 9th locomotive department operates in the city. Its assigned fleet includes 2TE116 and ChME3 diesel locomotives and VL11 electric locomotives. The depot serves as a turnaround depot for VL8 electric locomotives from the Slavyansk locomotive department, and during the summer, for the ChS2 and ChS7 locomotives from the Melitopol locomotive department. Locomotives from the Nizhnedneprovsk-Uzel, Slavyansk, and Krasny Liman locomotive departments undergo maintenance at the PTOL.

Notable people