The Russian Empire had acquired much of the territory inhabited by Ukrainians between the mid 17th and early 19th centuries, which was organized into nine Ukrainian governorates: Chernigov (Chernihiv in Ukrainian), Yekaterinoslav (Katerynoslav), Kiev (Kyiv), Kharkov (Kharkiv), Kherson, Podolia (Podillia), Poltava, Volhynia (Volyn), and the mainland part of Taurida (or Tavriia, without the Crimean peninsula). Additional lands annexed from Poland in 1815 were organized into the Kholm governorate in 1912.[1]
After the creation of the Ukrainian People's Republic in 1917, the Russian governorates inhabited by Ukrainians became subdivisions of Ukraine. In 1918, there was a not fully realized territorial administrative reform in the Ukrainian People's Republic, where the country was divided into zemlias, volosts, and hromadas.
In 1919, the northern Mhlyn, Novozybkiv, Starodub, and Surazh counties of Chernihiv Governorate, with their mixed Ukrainian–Belarusian–Russian population, were transferred from Ukraine to the newly established Gomel Governorate of the Russian republic.[2] In February 1924, Tahanrih and Shakhty counties (Tahanrizka okruha and Shakhtynska okruha) were transferred from the Donetsk Governorate of the Ukrainian SSR to the North Caucasus Krai of the Russian SFSR.[3][4]
Just before World War II, Hungary with the help from Poland occupied Carpatho-Ukraine that was to secede from the falling apart Czechoslovakia after the Munich agreement plus some additional territories of Slovakia. Poland in turn also occupied some territories of Silesia.
In the fall of 1938, the southwestern territories of Subcarpathian Rus including the cities of Uzhhorod, Berehove, and Mukacheve were yielded to the Kingdom of Hungary.
Some of the newly acquired territories in 1939 were annexed and incorporated as Kárpátalja. Kárpátalja unlike most of the country, however, had a special administrative system with the intention of it being governed by the Ruthenian minority population. In practice, it was not the case. Kárpátalja was divided into three administrative delegations (közigazgatási kirendeltség) which were each divided into four districts (járás). The previously annexed territories of 1938 were divided into Bereg County and Ung County.
After the German invasion of 1941, Ukraine was split between three countries, Germany, Romania, and Hungary. Within Germany Ukraine also was divided between the General Government (Krakau), Reichskommisariat (centered in Rivne), and Wehrmacht administration closer to the Eastern Front.
General Government
Western Ukraine around Lviv was part of the General Government as Distrikt Galizien which was added to four other existing districts with the invasion of the Soviet Union. Distrikt Galizien consisted of 13 land-kreis and one stadtkreis (Lemberg). Some other territories that had been incorporated into the Ukrainian SSR in 1939 were passed to other Distrikts, mostly Krakau.
Reichskommissariat Ukraine
Most of Ukraine was under a "civil administration" of Reichskommissariat Ukraine with capital in Rowno. Some territories also included former parts of Belarus. Reichskommissariat was divided into five General-bezirke and one Teil-bezirke Taurien (Krim):
Wolhynien und Podolien (Luzk) - 25 Kreisgebiete,
Shitomir - 17 Kreisgebiete,
Kiew - 24 Kreisgebiete,
Nikolajew - 13 Kreisgebiete,
Dnjepropetrowsk - 16 Kreisgebiete,
Krim (Melitopol) - 5 Kreisgebiete.
Each Generalbezirke consisted of several Kreisgebiete which in turn were divided into selsoviets. Krim, however, did not in reality encompass territory of the Crimean peninsula which was under a special jurisdiction of Wehrmacht. Territories of Ukraine (Donets basin and Sloboda Ukraine) also stayed under the Wehrmacht jurisdiction due to a close proximity to front-lines. It was planned to extend the territory of such Ukraine all the way to Volga river adding some other General-bezirke.
Romania
Romania liberated the south-western part of Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic from the foreign rule, more specifically the area which today constitutes Odesa Oblast eastward of the Dniester and southern Vinnytsia Oblast, land inhabited mostly by Romanians a few centuries ago. Those territories were organized into the province of Transnistria. Romania also recovered Budjak (Izmail Oblast) and Northern Bukovina (Chernivtsi Oblast), territories with Romanian ethnic majority, which Romania lost in the beginning of World War II.
Northern Bukovina was annexed to the Bukovina Governorate organized into four județe.
Polish-Soviet border changes (1944–1951)
Polish-Soviet border changes
Between 1944 and 1951 the border between the Ukrainian SSR and the Polish People's Republic changed a lot. There were at least five territorial transfers.
May 1948 to Poland was also transferred Medyka Raion of Drohobych Oblast.
In 1951 Drohobych Oblast yielded Nyzhno-Ustritsa Raion to Poland as well.
February 15, 1951, several Polish localities were transferred to Ukraine as part of the territorial exchange which formed Zabuzk Raion with seat in Belz, including the city of Krystynopil. Later Zabuzk Raion was reassigned under Sokal Raion of Lviv Oblast.
Other changes (1944–1946)
A new Kherson Oblast was created during the war on March 30, 1944, out of the territories of Mykolaiv Oblast and Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Furthermore, a few raions of Odesa Oblast (including the city of Voznesensk and its surrounding areas), were transferred to Mykolaiv Oblast.
On February 15 Izmail Oblast was merged into Odesa Oblast. Several raions of the previous Odesa Oblast were transferred to the neighboring Kirovohrad and Mykolaiv Oblasts.
In February 1992, the Crimean ASSR's parliament renamed it the Republic of Crimea,[citation needed] and in 1998 the Ukrainian parliament renamed it Autonomous Republic of Crimea, following disputes over the republic's constitution and level of autonomy. In February 2014, Russian forces occupied the peninsula including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and city of Sevastopol, and in March formally annexed the territories to the Russian Federation, although it remained internationally recognized as part of Ukraine.[citation needed]
After the start of the war in Donbas in the oblasts of Donetsk and Luhansk in April 2014, Ukrainian government forces fought to hold territory against separatist militias with a significant level of Russian manpower and military support. After a period of intense warfare involving Russian regular forces in 2014 and 2015, a ceasefire was declared and a relatively stable line of contact was established, although the semi-frozen conflict has continued to cost thousands of lives along the so-called grey zone that surrounds the line of contact. About a third of the area of the two Donbas oblasts remain under the de facto control of Russian-supported self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics. In these cities and raions where the respective local governments cannot exercise their constitutional powers, Ukraine created civil–military administrations in February 2015.[5]
On 17 July 2020, the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament) approved an administrative reform to merge most of the 490 raions, along with the "cities of regional significance" which had been separate from raions, into just 136 reformed raions. These 136 districts include ten in Crimea and several in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, which were and remain under Russian control. New third-level hromadas have taken over most tasks of the raions (education, healthcare, sport facilities, culture, and social welfare).[8]
On 24 October 2023 PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy signed Law No. 8263 that abolished the concept of "urban-type settlement" in Ukraine.[9] Law No. 8263 was meant to facilitate "de-Sovietization of the procedure for solving certain issues of the administrative and territorial system of Ukraine."[9] (In 1991 Ukraine became independentof the Soviet Union.[10]) The only official classifications of inhabited locality in Ukraine remained a city (misto, an urban locality), a settlement (selyshche, a rural locality with a population of at least 5,000) and village (selo, a rural locality of less than 5,000).[9]
An oblast in Ukraine, sometimes translated as region or province, is the main type of first-level administrative division of the country. Ukraine's territory is divided into 24 oblasts, as well as one autonomous republic and two cities with special status. Ukraine is a unitary state, thus the oblasts do not have much legal scope of competence other than that which is established in the Ukrainian Constitution and devolved by law. Articles 140–146 of Chapter XI of the constitution deal directly with local authorities and their competence.
Budjak, also known as Budzhak, is a historical region that was part of Bessarabia from 1812 to 1940. Situated along the Black Sea, between the Danube and Dniester rivers, this multi-ethnic region covers an area of 13,188 km2 (5,092 sq mi) and is home to approximately 600,000 people. The majority of the region is now located in Ukraine's Odesa Oblast, while the remaining part is found in the southern districts of Moldova. The region is bordered to the north by the rest of Moldova, to the west and south by Romania, and to the east by the Black Sea and the rest of Ukraine.
Mykolaiv Raion is a raion (district) in Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine with a pre-war population of 636,832. Its administrative center is the city of Mykolaiv.
During its existence from 1919 to 1991, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic consisted of many administrative divisions. Itself part of the highly centralized Soviet Union, sub-national divisions in the Ukrainian SSR were subordinate to higher executive authorities and derived their power from them. Throughout the Ukrainian SSR's history, other national subdivisions were established in the republic, including guberniyas and okrugs, before finally being reorganized into their present structure as oblasts. At the time of the Ukrainian SSR's independence from the Soviet Union, the country was composed of 25 oblasts (provinces) and two cities with special status, Kiev, the capital, and Sevastopol, respectively.
Shevchenkove is a village in Izmail Raion of Odesa Oblast of Ukraine. It belongs to Kiliia urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. It is located 63 km (39 mi) from the raion center and 28 km (17 mi) from the Dzinilor railway station. The territory has a flat topography. A large cluster of water bodies in the Danube and Northern Black Sea basins is concentrated within a radius of 30 km (19 mi). According to the 2001 census, 5,625 inhabitants lived in the village, the territory is 6.37 km2 (2.46 sq mi), with the agricultural land measuring 98.68 km2 (38.10 sq mi), and by both indicators it is the largest village in the district.
An okruha is a historical administrative division of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic that existed between 1923 and 1930. The system was intended as a transitional system between the Russian Imperial division of governorates and the modern equivalent of oblasts.
The administrative division of Ukraine in 1918 was inherited from the Russian Empire, and based on the largest unit of the gubernia with smaller subdivisions county or district, and rural district.
Bereznehuvate Raion was a subdivision of Mykolaiv Oblast of Ukraine. Its administrative center was the urban-type settlement of Bereznehuvate. The raion was abolished on 18 July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Mykolaiv Oblast to four. The area of Bereznehuvate Raion was merged into Bashtanka Raion. The last estimate of the raion population was 19,344
Pervomaisk Raion is a raion (district) in Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine. Its administrative center is the town of Pervomaisk. Population: 145,213.
Velyka Mykhailivka Raion was a raion (district) in Odesa Oblast of Ukraine. Its administrative center was the urban-type settlement of Velyka Mykhailivka. The raion was abolished on 18 July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Odesa Oblast to seven. The area of Velyka Mykhailivka Raion was merged into Rozdilna Raion. The last estimate of the raion population was 30,166.
A povit, also known as a county, was a type of historical territorial-administrative and judicial unit in Ukraine, administered by a starosta. Under the Russian Empire, the Russian administration introduced the system of uezds which locally were still referred in old manner as povits. After Ukraine declared its independence in 1918, povits remained in use until the introduction of raions in 1923.
Arbuzynka is a rural settlement in Pervomaisk Raion in the north of Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Arbuzynka settlement hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: 5,954.
Kostiantynivka is a rural settlement in Voznesensk Raion in the north of Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine. It belongs to Yuzhnoukrainsk urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: 2,154.
Berezanka is a Rural settlement in Mykolaiv Raion in the south of Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Berezanka settlement hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: 4,000.
Kazanka is a rural settlement in Bashtanka Raion in the northeast of Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine. It host the administration of Kazanka settlement hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: 6,523.
Kryve Ozero is a Rural settlement in Pervomaisk Raion in the northwest of Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Kryve Ozero settlement hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: 7,262.
Oleksandrivka is a rural settlement in Voznesensk Raion, Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Oleksandrivka settlement hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: 5,040.
Yelanets is a rural settlement in Voznesensk Raion. Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Yelanets settlement hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: 4,636.
Ivanivka is a rural settlement in Berezivka Raion, in the west of Odesa Oblast, Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Ivanivka settlement hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: 2,362.
Odesa Oblast, also referred to as Odeshchyna (Одещина), is an oblast (province) of southwestern Ukraine, located along the northern coast of the Black Sea. Its administrative centre is the city of Odesa. Population: 2,351,382.
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