city, eastern Ukraine. It lies along the railway from Luhansk to Debaltseve. Alchevsk was founded in 1895 with the establishment of the Donetsko-Yuryevsky ironworks. The plant developed into a large, integrated ironworks and steelworks, which was expanded greatly in the 1950s and '60s. The city has been a major bituminous-coal mining centre, with coke-chemical and metalworking industries. Pop. (2001) 119,193; (2005 est.) 116,954.