The history of the city starts with the decision to build near a settlement Zuyivka a thermal power plant as part of the Soviet GOELRO plan in 1929.

During World War II, the Germans occupied the town and murdered local Jews as well as communists in mass executions in a ravine outside the city.

[2] Since 2014, Zuhres has been administered as a part of the de facto Donetsk People's Republic.

On 7 October 2014, a captured Ukrainian was tied to a pole in the city center, and local separatists abused him for several hours.

[3] The victim was a 53-year-old volunteer of the "Donbas" battalion, Ihor Kozhoma, who tried to take his wife out of the occupied territory.