Admeenistrative diveesions o Ukraine

Ukraine is subdividit intae 24 oblasts (regions), ane autonomous republic, an twa "ceities wi special status". The Ukrainian subdiveesion seestem reflects the kintra's status as a unitary state (as statit in the kintra's constitution) wi unifeed legal an admeenistrative regime fur ilka unit.

Fur an unnerstaundin o the cultural an socioeconomic differs athin the kintra, a knawledge o the Ukrainian historical regions is crucial in studyin the admeenistrative structur.

Follaein the 2014 Crimean crisis, the Crimea an Sevastopol cam unner the the Roushian Federation's de facto administration, whilk claims thaim as the Republic o Crimea and the federal ceity o Sevastopol. Internaitionally, maist states hisnae recognised the Roushian claims. Daurin the Roushie-Ukrainian War (2022), Ukraine tint hauld o maist pairts o the Kherson Oblast, Zaporizhzhina, as weel as Donetsk an Luhansk. Amang ither things, Ukraine tint access tae the Sea o Azov. Houiver, daurin a breinge ower the border wi the Kursk Oblast, Ukraine set up contrule ower the Roushie toun o Sudzha. It wisnae taen intae Ukraine, but a Ukrainian militar command is rinnin it.

Ukraine inheritit its administrative divisions direct frae the local republican administration o the Soviet Union, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, an the oweraw structure didnae chynge signeificantly frae the middle o the 20t yeirhunner til the 2020 reforms; it wis somewhit complex, as aside haein several levels o a territorial subdivision it forby haed a classification fur various populate places, particularly ceities. The 2020 reforms, maugre reteenin the oblasts an twa ceities wi special status (o whilk Sevastopol is - like Crimea - de facto unner Russian administration), the seicond-tier level wis radically reduced in nummer frae 490 tae 136 districts (raions), wi aw the 118 umwhile "ceities o regional significance" merged intae the new districts.

 General scope o admeenistrative diveesion 

Structur
Thare is three major subdiveesions: oblast (region), raion (destrict), an rada (municipality) ceity, toun, an rural.

Ceities aaways hae thair awn form o sel-admeenistration (municipality) dependin on thair status an some mey conseest o thair awn ceity's destricts (raions). A basic an the lawest level o admeenistrative diveesion is a municipality (or rada - cooncil). Municipalities can be ceity, urban or rural, locally abbreviatit as miskradas, selyshchna rada or silradas, respectively.

Ceities municipalities
For ensaumple, the municipalities o Kiev an o Sevastopol hae the special status o a naitional importance (significance) an ilkane is offeecially classifeed as a ceity wi a special status, whilk admeenistratively is equivalent tae an oblast (region). Mayors o thae ceities, in general, as govrenors o oblasts is bein appointit bi the Preses o Ukraine. Housomeivver, the status o the Mayor o Kiev ceity, in pairticular, is somewhit mair complex, an fur mair information see Legal status an local govrenment o Kiev. The status o the Sevastopol ceity is unique an aw.

On the oblast level awmaist ilkane haes at least ane ceity o oblast subordination (importance) whilk is the admeenistrative center (caipital) o that oblast. Housomeivver, some ither big ceities athin the oblast mey hae sic status as weel. The ceities o oblast subordination haes the same importance o a hale raion an is aften thair admeenistrative centers. Note that aside the regular raions thare is several ceities in Ukraine uisually o naitional (mentioned earlier) or oblast status that is subdividit intae several ceity raions o thair ain. Thae raions mey whiles include ither ceities, touns, an/or veelages. In 2010 thare wis 23 sic ceities that hae ceity raions.

A wheen o raions hae ceity municipalities o its level o subordination (importance) an aw. Thaim are uisually the admeenistrative centers (caipitals). No aw raions (destricts) haes a ceity as thair admeenistrative center; housomeivver, aw the raion (destrict) centers is at least urban-lik (urbanised). Aw admeenistrative centers haes thair ain form o sel-admeenistration. A raion's subordination municipalities mey admeenister several ither adjacent tae thaim local councils (municipalities), uisually rural. If a raion haes several raion (destrict) level ceities, thay mey skare an admeenistrative pouer fur the raion.

Ither municipalities
As it wis mentioned abuin, aside ceity municipalities thare is urban-lik municipalities. The lawest form o sel-admeenistration is rural municipalities an veelages. A rural municipality mey conseest o ae veelage, uisually big, or combination o ither rural veelages or localities. Some veelages haes some addeitional vera sma settlements an aw. Those settlements thegither wi the hame veelage combine a local (rural) municipality (silrada). For simplicity's sake, silrada (rural municipality) is uisually refert tae as a veelage an is the lawest level o admeenistrative diveesion. The status tae ony settlement is grantit throu the Verkhovna Rada.

Ither admeenistrations
Thare is some umwhile militar installation-settlements (viiskove mistechko) an aw. Syne the faw o the Soviet Union, the secrecy o sic settlements wis "unveiled", housomeivver, thae touns bein subordinatit directly tae the Meenistry o Defence an dae no hae thair awn ceevil admeenistration. Sic military installations are lik ghost touns that are no even identifeed on a cairt. Ane o them is on the mairch o the Kiev an Zhytomyr Oblasts cried Makarov-1.In Kiev region a military installation cannot vote  (video) Thare is a special territory whilk is unner the jurisdiction o the Emergencies Meenistry an aw. It is the territory whilk suffert the maist frae the Chernobyl Catastrophe, kent as the Zone o alienation. Some restrictit territories belang the Ecology Meenistry (umwhile Natur Environment) an is conseidert natur sanctuaries (preserves).

Thir days, thare is three enclaves. The ceity o Slavutych is admeenistratively subordinate direct tae the Kiev Oblast, while bein completely surroondit bi Belaroushie an Chernihiv region. Anither enclave is a settlement Bile whilk is locate on the Snake island an is fully surroondit bi the Black Sea. Bile is pairt o the Vylkove ceity o the Odessa Oblast. Atoun o Kotsyubynske (Irpin municipality) which is pairt o the Kiev region is completely surroondit bi the ceity o Kiev an aw.

Ither nomenclaturs fur local settlements that is nou abandoned include khutir, wirkers' settlement etc.

The follaein table is based on the 2001 Ukrainian Census.

 Degree o diveesion  Territorial  Number  Ceities/ither settlements  Number  Tot settlements 1  Crimea  1  -  -  - region/oblast  24  special status ceity  2  459 2  destrict/raion  490  region level ceity  178 -  -  ceity destrict  118  3  -  -  destrict level ceity  279     municipality, toun/urban-type   783  ither toun/urban-type settlement  102  885 4  municipality, rural   10278  veelage  27190  28456 5  -  -  rural settlement/selyshche  1266 

Types o settlements
 Settlements bi Status Status   Status<br/ >(in Ukrainian) Tot Number<br/ >(as o 2006)misto / ceity  місто  457   municipality місто зі спеціальним статусом  2   misto oblastnoho znachennia  місто областного значення  176   misto raionnoho znachennia  місто районного значення  279selyshche miskoho typu / toun  селище міського типу  886selo / veelage  сільський населений пункт  28,552   selysche  селище  1,364   selo  село  27,188
Thare are twa types o settlements: rural an urban. 
Rural
Rural populatit auries (сільський населений пункт) can be aither a veelage (село, selo) or a rural settlement (селище). 
Urban
Urban populatit auries (міський населений пункт) can be aither a ceity (місто) or an urbanized settlement (селище міського типу). Urbanized settlements for a brevity sake aften are classifeed as touns in the Scots leid.

The chynges tae a settlement status can be done anerlie bi the Verkhovna Rada. Please, note that the size o a settlement daes no ultimately define its status awtho is a major factor. For ensaumple, the ceity o Prypiat in Ukraine still retains its status, while haein a population o zero (0) residents due tae its infrastructur: biggins, roads, utility netwirks, etc.

Ceity vs. toun in Ukraine
The teepical Ukrainian misto ocht tae be conseidert a ceity, no a toun (compare tae Ceity status in the Unitit Kinrick). Housomeivver, the ceity's subordination tae aither oblast or raion should be taken intae accoont an aw, especially in the political sense. Some o urbanized settlements mey be ceities o raion subordination, awtho it coud seem confusin, a type o settlement shoud be considered first as its status is gien for admeenistrative purposes.

Leet o regions
 List o Ukraine's oblasts Region Aurie (sq mi) Population (2010) Density Centre ceity Raions/Destricts Important ceities10,038.01,965,031195.76Simferopol10118,069.51,291,135160.00Cherkasy4612,303.1 1,104,24189.75Chernihiv533,126.3903,782289.09Chernivtsi3212,322.13,344,073271.39Dnipro71310,238.34,448,031434.45Donetsk8285,366.81,380,770257.28Ivano-Frankivsk6512,129.42,755,177227.15Kharkiv7710,988.91,091,15199.30Kherson537,971.11,331,534167.05Khmelnytskyi3610,861.41,719,602158.32Kiev7139,493.51,014,809106.90Kropyvnytskyi4410,302.72,300,412223.28Luhansk848,429.82,545,634301.98Lviv799,497.31,186,452124.93Mykolaiv4512,861.12,387,636185.65Odessa7711,099.71,493,668134.57Poltava457,740.21,152,576148.91Rivne449,202.41,166,765126.79Sumy575,337.11,086,694203.61Ternopil3110,236.71,646,250160.82Vinnytsia66 7,777.61,038,223133.49Lutsk44 4,933.21,246,323252.64Uzhhorod6510,494.31,805,431172.04Zaporizhia5511,518.21,283,201111.41Zhytomyr45 (Kyiv)323.92,782,0168589.12Kiev101416.6380,301912.87Sevastopol42

Namin
 Names o Ukraine's admeenistrative units Ukrainian Romanized¹ Scots widespread Scots recommended (formal uise) Scots recommended (informal uise)автономна республікаavtonomna respublika(autonomous) republicautonomous republicautonomy областьoblast'region², provinceoblastprovinceрайонraiondestrict, region³, aurie, coontyraiondestrictмістоmistoceity, municipalitymistoceity, municipality5місто зі спеціальним статусомmisto zi spetsial'nym statusomspecial-status municipality, special-charter municipality4municipalitymunicipality, ceityмісто областного значенняmisto oblastnoho znachenniaceity o oblast subordinancemisto oblastnoho znachenniaceity o oblast subordinanceмісто районного значенняmisto raionnoho znachenniaceity o raion subordinancemisto raionnoho znachenniaceity o raion subordinanceселище міського типуselysche mis'koho typutoun, urban-type settlementselysche mis'koho typutoun, urban-type settlementсільський населений пунктsil'skyi naselenyi punktveelage, rural-type settlementseloveelage, rural-type settlementселищеselyscheveelageselyscheveelageселоseloveelageseloveelage

Notes
 Romanized uisin Ukrainian Naitional staundart.  Details at Romanization o Ukrainian.
 Province is mair precise acause region mey refer tae supranaitional geographic entity an aw.
 Region is ambiguous syne it uisually refers tae lairger naitional-level units; aurie is inaccurate.
 4. Mey be referred as republican status an aw.
 5. Ceity refers exclusively tae the ceity admeenistration (uisually smawer ceities), while some ceities include ither urban an rural admeenistrations sic collective admeenistrations form ceity cooncils - municipalities.

Oblast
Wancommon in Inglis leid term oblast in the Ukraine is interchyngeably uised wi mair common region whilk is a general term uised for oblasts an the Republic o the Crimea. Maist o the Ukraine's oblast (regions) is named efter thair admeenistrative centers (aw ceities). Ilka region generally consists o aboot ane tae twa million fowk an haes aboot 20 destricts (raions).

Nomenclatur grammatical aspect
The name o ilka oblast is a relative adjective, formed bi addin a feminine suffix tae the respective centre ceity's name. E.g. Poltava is a centre o  Poltavs'ka oblast''' (Poltava Oblast). Maist o thaim are whiles refert tae in a feminine noun form an aw, follaein the convention o traditional regional place names, endin wi the suffix "-shchyna".  E.g. Poltava Oblast is cried Poltavshchyna an aw.

Exceptions tae this rule include:

 Twa oblasts, Volyn an Zakarpattia, whilk retain the names o thair respective historical regions, Volyn' (Volhynia) an Zakarpattia'' (Transcarpathie), whase respective caipitals is Lutsk an Uzhhorod.
 Twa ceities: Kiev whilk is an independently admeenistrated ceity frae the surroondin Kiev Oblast an Sevastopol whilk, maugre bein locate on the Crimean peninsula, isnae admeenistratively pairt o the Crimea. Kiev is, housomeivver, the admeenistrative centre o Kiev Oblast (the oblast's admeenistrative bodies is situate inside the ceity) an aw.

An oblast centre in Ukraine is uisually the lairgest an maist developit ceity in gien region.

Oblasts whiles refert tae as provinces, housomeivver historically provinces wis pairt o admeenistrative diveesion o the Roushie Empire, territories o whilk the day aften ais different. Fur ensaumple, the umwhile Volhynie province encompasses the Rivne Oblast, the Volyn Oblast, an includes some territories in the Ternopil Oblast an aw. See  Leet o etymologies o kintra subdiveesion names: "Ukraine" as weel.

 Autonomous Republic o Crimea 

The Autonomous Republic o Crimea (, ), umwhile Crimea Oblast o the Ukrainian SSR, is geographically the main pairt o Crimean peninsulae in the sooth o Ukraine. Its caipital is Simferopol.

 Raions 

Raions is sma territorial units o subdiveesion o Ukraine. Thare is 490 raions in 24 oblasts an Crimea autonomous republic o Ukraine. An average aurie o Ukrainian raion is 1,200 km2 (463 sq mi), an average population o raions is 52,000 fowk.

Metro Auries
Ukraine haes five major agglomeratit metropolitan auries (conurbations).
 Kiev includes ceities sic as Irpin, Boryspil, Fastiv amang ithers
 Kharkiv includes ceities sic as Chuhuiv, Merefa, an numerous ither settlements
 Donetsk includes ceities sic as Makiivka, Khartsyzk, an ithers
 Dnipro wi Kamianske an Novomoskovsk
 Odessa wi Chornomorsk an Ovidiopol

Ither minor metro auries are:
 Kryvyi Rih an Zhovti Vody
 Lviv wi Vynnyky an Pustomyty
 Horlivka an Yenakieve
 Zaporizhia wi Vilniansk
 Mykolaiv wi Voskresenske
 Luhansk wi Oleksandrivsk an Schastia
 Mariupol wi Staryi Krym

Thir conurbation auries are nae offeecially recognised an remain tae be administered accordin tae offeecial oblast-raion seestem o  subdiveesion.

 Relatit pages 
 Geography o Ukraine
 Historical regions o Ukraine
 ISO 3166-2:UA
 Admeenistrative diveesions development in Ukraine
 Admeenistrative diveesions o the Ukrainian SSR

References

Freemit airtins
 Subdivisions of Ukraine  – Verhovna Rada steid
 List of raions – sub-subdiveesions o oblasts


Ukraine
Ukraine