Druzhba, Sumy Oblast
Druzhba (, lit. "friendship"; before 1962: Khutir-Mykhailivskyi) is a town in Yampil Raion of Sumy Oblast, Ukraine. The population is . Geography. The city is located in the northern part of Sumy Oblast and lies in the valley of the Zhuravel River and its tributaries. The southeastern part of the surrounding areas is swampy. This is the land of forests: pine grows from conifers on the hills, and spruce in the lowlands, birch, oak, alder are often found here. A quiet Ivotka River flows through the forest. The and several railway branches pass through the city. History. Druzhba  was founded in the 19th century as a settlement in Glukhovsky Uyezd in Chernigov Governorate of the Russian Empire. In the past, there were three settlements: Zhuravka, Yurasivka and Khutir Mykhailivskyi, the first two settlements were older (founded in the second half of the 17th century). Zhuravka village was named after the Zhuravel River, on which it is located. In ancient times, the village belonged to Andriy Hamaliya, whose son was a like-minded person and supporter of Ivan Mazepa. In the villages subordinated to Mykhailivka Village Council, peasants were forcibly driven into collective farms in 1929-1930. In 1932 -1933 those peasants survived the Stalinist genocide of Ukrainians. During World War II, Druzhba was occupied by Axis troops from October 1941 to August 1943. In 1956 it was an urban-type settlement. There was , a cinder block factory, three secondary schools, five libraries, a club and a stadium. Druzhba became a city in 1962. In January 1989 the population was 7459 people. There are three schools in the city — two comprehensive I-III degrees and one comprehensive I-II degrees, a nursery-kindergarten, two hospitals, a pharmacy, a house of culture, a railwaymen club, a branch of Yampil Music  and children's and youth sports schools. There are also four library establishments, a museum of local artifacts, and a stadium. There are two Orthodox churches. In the center of the city, at the square of Eternal Glory, a memorial was erected for soldiers who died during the Second World War, there is also the tomb of an unknown soldier and mass graves. Transport. The Khutir-Mikhailivskyi railway station is an important junction connecting Ukraine with Russian Moscow Railway.