# Chornomorsk

Chornomorsk (Ukrainian: Чорноморськ, pronounced ), formerly Illichivsk (Ukrainian: Іллічівськ), is a city in Odesa Raion, Odesa Oblast, south-western Ukraine, dependent on the Port of Chornomorsk. It hosts the administration of Chornomorsk urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. The city is located around the Sukhyi Estuary. Its population was given as 57,983 (2022 estimate).
Originally, the city was established as a satellite town of Odesa.

## Geography

Chornomorsk is situated on the coast of the Black Sea, 12 miles (20 km) south from Odesa.

## History

Before the construction of a port with a city, the region was the site of a number of unorganized farmsteads and hamlets (khutir) that were collectively known as Buhovi khutory (Ukrainian: Бугові Хутори) that were located on agricultural lots of a local landowner, Andriy Buhovyi. After the establishment of the Soviet regime and the "nationalization" and collectivization of the area, in 1927 the settlement was renamed into Illichivskyi Khutir in honour of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin.
In 1952 a port was established, and its surrounding territory was urbanized and converted into a city of Illichivsk (langx | ru | Ильичёвск). The city was designed to become a new home for the Black Sea Shipping Company (then the largest operator of passenger and commercial vessels in the world). Originally a builder's trailer village, Chornomorsk has expanded to become Ukraine's most prosperous town by income per capita. Residents are mostly employed by the port (one of the largest ports of Europe) and in the maritime industry. Residents of Odesa have recently begun relocating to lower-cost but higher-income Chornomorsk.
On 15 May 2015 President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed a bill into law which began a six-months period for the removal of communist monuments and the mandatory renaming of settlements with names related to Communism. On 12 November 2015, the city council decided to rename the city to Chornomorsk (after the Black Sea (Ukrainian: Чорне море) on the coast of which the city stands). The decision was confirmed by the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament) on 4 February 2016. The city's former name, Illichivsk, was an homage to Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union.
Until 18 July 2020, Chornomorsk was incorporated as a city of oblast significance and the center of Illichivsk Municipality. The municipality was abolished in July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Odesa Oblast to seven. The area of Illichivsk Municipality was merged into Odesa Raion.

## Demographics

According to the 2001 Ukrainian Census:
| Ethnicity | Proportion |
| Ukrainians | 66.5% |
| Russians | 28.5% |
| Bulgarians | 1% |
| Moldovans, Belarusians, Romanians, and other | 4% |

## Economy
### Train ferry service to Bulgaria

Chornomorsk was connected by freight train ferry line (426 km) to Varna in Bulgaria in 1978. There were train ferries, two Soviet and two Bulgarian, named "Hero of Odesa", "Hero of Sevastopol" and "Hero of Schipka", "Hero of Pleven", which could take in three decks a total of 108 two bogie (four axle) Soviet freight cars. In the first ten-year period (1978–1988), these train ferries had transported 1,000,000 freight cars between Illichivsk and Varna. This train ferry service took 17 hours in both directions. The Bulgarians built break of gauge apparatus at Varna which made it possible to change bogies of 24 freight cars in one hour thirty minutes.

### Industries

Chornomorsk's economy is largely oriented to the sea. The biggest employer is the Port of Chornomorsk. The headquarters and manufacturing facilities of "Antarctica" (Ukraine's largest fishing company) are located in the city, and other major maritime shipping companies have also chosen to open their offices there.
The city also has a freight railway station. The port is on one of the freight routes of China's proposed Eurasian Land Bridge (part of the "New Silk Road"), which would see an eastern link to China via ferry to Georgia, Azerbaijan and across the Caspian Sea, and a western link by train to western Europe.

## International relations
### Twin towns – Sister cities

Chornomorsk is twinned with:
* Narva, Estonia
* Beyoğlu, Istanbul, Turkey
* Maardu, Estonia
* Qaradağ raion, Baku, Azerbaijan
* Tczew, Poland
* Poti, Georgia
* Boynton Beach, Florida, United States

## Gallery

* Chornomorsk downtown
* Prymorskyi Park
* Night Club
* Points of Invincibility
* Myru Avenue
* Aerial view of Chornomorsk
* Chornomorsk City Hall
* Molodizhni Park
* Chornomorsk Port