Luhansk [key], Rus. Lugansk, city (1989 pop. 497,000), capital of Luhansk region, E Ukraine, at the confluence of the Luhan and Vilkhivka rivers, in the Donets Basin. Its products include locomotives, processed coal, chemicals, steel pipes, mining equipment, machine tools, textiles, and foodstuffs. It was founded in 1796 around a cannon foundry, and is the oldest center of the Donets Basin. Named Luhansk in 1889, it was called Voroshilovgrad from 1935 to 1958 and Luhansk from 1959 to 1969. Renamed Voroshilovgrad in 1970, it was once again renamed Luhansk in 1990. In 2014 the city and its region became, along with Donetsk, a center of the pro-Russian uprising against the Ukrainian government.
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