[11] In 1899, a metallurgical settlement was founded nearby called Dmitriyevsk (Dmytriyivsk), named after Dmitry Ilovaisky, son of count Ilovaysky - the landlord of the region.

177) of Nazi German Chief of the Security Police dated from 6 March 1942, it is stated that as a result of the measures carried out by Einsatzkommando 6, both the Horlivka and Makiivka districts had been made "free of Jews".

Nazis and Ukrainian collaborators executed a total of 493 people here, among them 80 political agitators, 44 saboteurs and looters, and 369 Jews.

[citation needed] Early on 20 January 2011, two explosions took place in Makiivka, one near the coal plant, and the other near a shopping mall.

There were no injuries or deaths, but a note was found near one of the blast sites, demanding €4,200,000 (equivalent to €5,407,275 in 2023) from well-known local people.

[14] Security Service of Ukraine chief Valeriy Khoroshkovsky opened a criminal case on the blasts the same day, under the article on terrorism.

[17] First Deputy Minister of Information of the Donetsk People's Republic Daniil Bezsonov stated that the strike took place at exactly 00:01 Moscow Time and made use of the M142 HIMARS rocket system.

[19] Officials of the Donetsk People's Republic stated that the reason for the strike was the use of mobile phones by Russian serviceman at the school, which revealed their location to the Ukrainian military.

[22] Igor Girkin, the former commander of separatist forces in the Donbas, said about the attack, "the number of dead and wounded runs into many hundreds".

The city is rather dispersed, with numerous residential communities surrounding individual industrial plants over an extensive area.

It is gradually extending to form a single metropolitan area with the nearby city of Donetsk, which lies just a few miles to the southwest.

Trolley buses have 4 routes: There are plans to connect trolleybus networks of Donetsk and Makeyevka with direct intercity line to March 2013.