Kindrativka railway station. The settlement of Oleksiyevo-Druzhkivka

A railway and the small settlements beside it are inextricably linked with each other, determining each other's economic condition and vital activity.

The Kindrativka railway station. The settlement of Oleksiyevo-Druzhkivka. Donetsk region

The Kindrativka passenger and freight station of the Donetsk Railway was opened in 1879. It is located on the line Kostiantynivka-Kramatorsk in the settlement of Oleksiyevo-Druzhkivka.

The Kindrativka railway station. The settlement of Oleksiyevo-Druzhkivka

The station is a stop for suburban trains heading in the direction of Sloviansk, Izium, Fenolna, Blyzniuky, Kostiantynivka.

The Kindrativka railway station

The railway track divides the settlement into two parts — the south-western and the north-eastern.

The settlement of Oleksiyevo-Druzhkivka

The administrative unit, the urban-type settlement of Oleksiyevo-Druzhkivka, was formed in 1939 by the merger of two villages — Oleksiyivka and Druzhkivka. The locality has been known since the 17th century, when the Cossack watch-post of Druzhkivka arose on the bank of the Kryvyi Torets.

A Cossack cottage. An exhibit

Thanks to the research of local historians, it was possible to establish the year of the settlement's founding — 1711.

A gusli player by the road

This date is considered official and is confirmed by a decision of the settlement council of Oleksiyevo-Druzhkivka.

Oleksiyevo-Druzhkivka. The settlement council

Tourists come to the northern outskirts of the settlement to see the unique geological natural monument "The Druzhkivka Petrified Trees". The fragments of evergreen araucarias discovered during the excavation of the quarry attested to the geological processes that took place in the Donbas 250 million years ago. Visitors are asked to treat the outcrop of particles of petrified vegetation very carefully.

What else, apart from the station and the araucarias, can be seen in the settlement?

The Kindrativka refractory works, which produced bricks and articles of refractory clay for metallurgists, is not operating at full capacity. The production premises and workshops are not fulfilling their purpose.

The Kindrativka refractory works

The dates on the facade testify to the time of the highest economic upturn of industrial production.

A production building

The two-storey houses in the residential districts are contemporaries of the enterprise.

Kashtanova Street. Dwelling houses

The decline in production affected the demographic situation and the socio-economic development of the settlement. The closed building of school No. 14 has holes in its roof.

The pond was once picturesque.

Oleksiyevo-Druzhkivka. The pond

An extinguished centre of culture and a forgotten dance floor.

The House of Culture

The dance floor

This spruce was probably decorated for the New Year holidays, and festive events were held beside it.

The spruce by the club

A young coniferous sapling in the little public garden by the House of Culture has been cut down at the root.

Small single-storey buildings with attics and little porches.

Kashtanova Street. Shops

The abandoned cafe "Desertne" and the closed cookery shop no longer delight visitors with sweets.

Kashtanova Street. The cafe and cookery shop

On the door of the veterinary clinic — a padlock.

The veterinary clinic

The residents of the settlement do not need a red-brick bathhouse.

Partyzanska Street. The ruins of the bathhouse

A specimen of Slobozhanshchyna dwelling under a huge blossoming chestnut.

Partyzanska Street. A dwelling house

In 1944 the collective of the "Chervona Zirka" works set up a monument on the mass grave of 121 soldiers, of whom it was possible to establish the surnames of six Red Army men.

The park. The war memorial

On the obelisks in the form of hexagonal pyramids the plaques are painted over and there are no other inscriptions.

The obelisk

On the stage in the park and on the football pitch, cultural and sporting events are held.

The cross on the site of the church destroyed by the Bolsheviks.

St Michael's Church was built on Partyzanska Street in 2002. The church was painted by masters from Western Ukraine, and the bells were brought from Novovolynsk.

St Michael's Church. The Sunday school

St Michael's Church

On the initiative of the leading local historians of the Donetsk region, the part of the H-20 highway from Kostiantynivka to Sloviansk that passes through Oleksiyevo-Druzhkivka was named after the human-rights defender Oleksa Tykhy, a member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group. A native of the village of Izhevka, 3 kilometres from Oleksiyevo-Druzhkivka, he foretold the decline of Ukraine half a century ago and named its causes — the use of our country's natural riches as a raw-materials appendage; the destruction of the Ukrainian language, the forgetting of national traditions, the imposition of an alien culture.