Dobropillia

Dobropillia (Ukrainian: Добропілля, IPA: [dobroˈpilʲːɐ] ^ⓘ; Russian: Доброполье, romanized: Dobropol'ye) is a city in Pokrovsk Raion, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. Prior to 2020, it was a city of oblast significance and served as the administrative center of the former Dobropillia Raion, though it was administratively separate from the raion. It is located 94 kilometres (58 mi) from Donetsk, the administrative center of the oblast. In 2022, 28,000 people lived in Dobropillia, and in 2025, approximately 22,000 did.^[1]

Dobropillia Добропілля
City
View on Dobropillia
Flag Coat of arms
Dobropillia Show map of Donetsk Oblast Dobropillia Show map of Ukraine
Coordinates: 48°28′08″N 37°04′58″E
Country	Ukraine
Oblast	Donetsk Oblast
Raion	Pokrovsk Raion
Hromada	Dobropillia urban hromada
Founded	1840s
Government
• Mayor	Serhiy Bondarenko
Area	11.89 km2 (4.59 sq mi)
Elevation	138 m (453 ft)
Population  (2022)	28,170
Climate	Dfb

Beginning on 11 August 2025, Russia launched an offensive towards the city and the Dobropillia–Kramatorsk highway as part of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

History

A local newspaper is published here since February 1935.^[2]

During the Second World War, the settlement was occupied by Axis troops. It became a city in 1953. In 1970, the population of the city was 30 thousand people, the basis of the economy was coal mining.^[3][4]

Dobropillia was one of the first towns shelled by Russia using "Grad" MLRS on 13 June 2014, with one civilian killed.^[5]

On the night of 7 March 2025, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian army attacked a residential district between Shevchenko and Luhanska streets with ballistic missiles. A double-tap attack with cluster munitions happened shortly after the first one with 11 killed and 30 wounded initially confirmed.^[6]

In July 2025, a Russian air strike on a shopping center in the town killed at least two people and injured several others.^[7][8] An FAB-type 500-kg bomb was used in the attack, affecting 54 retail outlets, 304 apartments, and eight vehicles.^[9] Dobropillia was about 15 kilometers from the front line at the time.^[9]

By 11 August, Russian forces in the Pokrovsk sector had launched an offensive towards the Dobropillia–Kramatorsk highway.^[10]

Demographics

As of the Ukrainian Census of 2001:^[11]

Ethnicity

• Ukrainians: 71.3%
• Russians: 25.9%
• Belarusians: 1.1%
• Tatars: 0.4%
• Greeks: 0.2%

Language

• Russian: 61.0%
• Ukrainian: 38.5%
• Belarusian: 0.1%

Notable people

• Art Bezrukavenko (born 1996), content creator and social media personality^[12]