An employee of Artemsoli from Soledar described an underground city in the mines where the Armed Forces are hiding

Russian forces continue to clear Soledar of the remaining groups of Ukrainian military and mercenaries who may have taken refuge in underground utilities. Under Soledar there is an extensive network of salt mines, where strongholds of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were equipped. A resident of Soledar, who worked at the Artyomsol enterprise for many years, told MK about the underground city, tunnels, passages and emergency exits from the mines.

“Almost the entire city worked for Artemsol,” says Sergey Bondarenko, a resident of Soledar. — In total there were four working mines where salt was mined. Another of the worked-out workings housed an underground speleosanatorium with the loud name “Salt Symphony”.

All mines are interconnected by tunnels. It was possible to enter one and exit the other without any problems. Salt layers in Soledar occur at great depths. The depth of the mines is 250-300 meters. The shaft of the mine goes down, and horizontal branches depart from it, where salt was mined. Salt was mined like coal – there is a boring heading machine, a scraper machine, loading wagons. One section was engaged in mining, the other – shipping.

In the Soviet years, the Artyomsol enterprise provided up to 40% of the all-Union salt production. More than 7 million tons of salt were mined per year. In total, the entire system of workings is about 300 kilometers, you can get to Kharkov.

How many exits do mines have?

All have multiple emergency exits. In case the cage does not work for some reason, for example, there is no electricity, ladders are provided there. On foot, the climb takes about 45-50 minutes, as the depth is quite large. There were interruptions in the light, and then we went down into the mine and climbed on our own.

– If there are so many passages and branches in the mines, is it easy to get lost there?

– Yes, there is a whole underground city, many chambers, passages, the total volume of voids is more than 100 million cubic meters. Where tourists are taken, there is generally a salt football field, there are gates. There is a church. At a depth of 288 meters there is a concert hall, its height is about 27 meters, its length is more than 100 meters. I myself once arranged chairs there for an upcoming concert. There were 450 of them!

Tourists are shown the underground museum of the salt industry, various salt installations, underground halls.

Tourists from all over the world came to Soledar, there were special living quarters, canteens in the mines, people stayed there to live for several days, or even for a week. All these spaces were illuminated. But there were cases when the curious climbed into one of the branches and got lost. They were then searched for with lanterns. Few of the tourists guessed what was hidden underground in Soledar.

What is the air temperature below?

– Eternal 15-16 degrees, going down, we took overalls with us. When for the first time I got into the mine, I was surprised that here I am walking along the bottom of the most ancient sea. The salt deposit began to emerge after all 250 million years ago. Where there was a shallow bay, a layer of salt was deposited.

The walls and vaults of the workings seemed to be covered with waves. It was then that marks from tunneling machines already appeared on them. When he had already worked for many years, he did not notice at all that the walls, vault and floor were made of salt.

Our workings are absolutely dry, waterproofing was given great importance. It’s easy to breathe there. If you went down with a cold, after the shift your throat stopped hurting, the runny nose disappeared. Our salt is good, without impurities, it can be eaten immediately, without additional purification.

– Probably no one in the city bought salt? He poured a couple of handfuls into a pocket in the mine – and upstairs. Or was it not possible?

– Naturally, those who worked at the enterprise did not need salt.

– How much did people receive at the enterprise?

– It all depended on who you work for, what rank you have. Earnings at Artemsol were on average from 5 thousand hryvnia (9200 rubles at the current exchange rate) to 30 thousand (55200).

– Where did the locals go in connection with the hostilities?

– About half – to the West, half – to Russia. We left Soledar with my family for Voronezh back in April. I have always supported Russia, I have all my relatives here.

We got out on our own by car with friends. Now I work as a laborer at a construction site. We received Russian passports. Of course, I follow the events, I worry. But there is no way back to Soledar, our house is completely destroyed. To be honest, I don’t know if I will ever be able to return to my homeland.

Read the material “Inside the football field and the sanatorium”: the digger described the salt mines of Soledar”