Hirnyk (Ukrainian: Гірник, pronounced [ɦ⁽ʲ⁾irˈnɪk]; Russian: Горняк, romanized: Gornyak) is a city in Kurakhove urban hromada, Pokrovsk Raion, Donetsk Oblast (province) of Ukraine.

These mines were developed as part of the Soviet government's push to expand coal production in the western Donbas to meet the growing energy needs of the state.

The city was captured by Nazi German forces on 20 October 1941, who instituted a repressive and violent occupation, murdering prisoners of war at a hill near Sotsmistechko.

The Nazis forced all residents from the age of 14 as well as prisoners of war to begin rebuilding the destroyed mines, but were largely unsuccessful to return either of them to functionality during the occupation, with only small amounts of coal being extracted from the pits.

[5] Small groups of Soviet partisans fought back against the occupation, several of them were killed in a minefield near Rai-Oleksandrivka, Donetsk Oblast [uk].

Hundreds of Soviet prisoners of war died of hunger and abuse by the Nazis in two camps located in the village and mine.

In On 8 September 1943, Sotsmistechko was recaptured by detachments of the 257th Rifle Division of the Red Army during the broader Soviet counteroffensive in the Donbas.

On 27 September 1958, Sotsmistechko was administratively merged with its neighboring settlements (Prommaidanchyk, Zhovtneve, Peremoha, Pershotravneve, Komsomolske) to create a new city named Hirnyk with a population of 11,000.

[5] In the 1950s and 1960s, Hirnyk's industry expanded with the modernization of coal mining infrastructure, which greatly increased the output to thousands of tons a day.

In 1960, Hirnyk residents erected a monument at the site where the Nazis had murdered Soviet prisoners of war.

[7] On 30 September 2018, the Hirnyk TV Tower [uk] was built in the city, with the purpose of broadcasting Ukrainian television programs to the Russian-occupied parts of Donetsk Oblast.

[10] On 12 December 2022, during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia shelled Hirnyk, killing two people and wounding ten others.

[12] As claimed by a Ukrainian military officer, most of the remaining residents in Hirnyk are so-called "jdouny", people waiting for and being sympathetic to the Russian Armed Forces, sometimes assisting them.