[10] With the development of the railway station, Grishino grew and there were new businesses, in particular for exploitation of underground minerals, starting with coal.

[10] After the Russian Civil War ravaged the former Empire, Grishino station continued its growth and by 1925 had a locomotive depot, a brick factory, and six mines.

German forces proceeded to forcibly transfer many civilians by train to labor camps in Austria.

8295 Soviet soldiers perished on the battlefield, and 4788 residents of the town were killed in World War II.

[12][13] The city witnessed an atrocity when its remaining Jewish community was massacred by the German Nazi army in midwinter 1942.

[16] In May 2016, the city was renamed to Pokrovsk as a result of decommunization laws,[17] honoring the Intercession of the Theotokos known as Pokrova in Ukrainian.

[24][25] On 19 August, Ukrainian officials announced that families with children living in Pokrovsk and surrounding villages would be forced to leave.

According to Donetsk Oblast Governor Vadym Filashkin, 26,000 people, including 1,076 children, were still remaining in the city.

A Ukrainian soldier, Pavlo Vyshebaba, took the letter "P" which was thrown on the road, saying that it should become an artifact in a future museum about the Russian-Ukrainian War.