against the occupation. The city was eventually liberated by the Red Army on 14 February 1943.

In the postwar period, the city was rebuilt. The population recovered and grew, again alongside demographic change. More Russians were brought in to rebuild and help with industrialization, again reducing the share of Ukrainians to a minority of 48.3% by 1959 and raising the share of Russians to 47.1%.On 5 March 1958, after Khrushchev's call to not name cities after