The administrative center of the raion is the city of Sverdlovsk,[3][4] Population: 205,465 (2022 estimate).

The last estimates of the population of the raion, reported by the Ukrainian government, were 11,644 (2020 est.

[6] The area of the raion is controlled by Russia, which continues to use the pre-2020 administrative divisions of Ukraine.

[8] Territories of Luhansk Oblast have been the subject of fighting by Russian and Russian-controlled militias since 2014.

In 2015 a more-or-less stable line of contact was established after the Minsk II ceasefire agreement and conclusion of the battle of Debaltseve, placing the raion on the Russian side (as part of the Luhansk People's Republic), and then directly after the 2022 annexation of four partially occupied Ukrainian oblasts.