| Merefa | |||||||||
| Native Name: | Мерефа | ||||||||
| Pushpin Map: | Ukraine Kharkiv Oblast#Ukraine | ||||||||
| Pushpin Relief: | yes | ||||||||
| Subdivision Type: | Country | ||||||||
| Subdivision Type1: | Oblast | ||||||||
| Subdivision Name1: | Kharkiv Oblast | ||||||||
| Subdivision Type2: | Raion | ||||||||
| Subdivision Name2: | Kharkiv Raion | ||||||||
| Subdivision Type3: | Hromada | ||||||||
| Subdivision Name3: | Merefa urban hromada | ||||||||
| Population As Of: | 2022 | ||||||||
| Population Total: | 21202 | ||||||||
| Population Density Km2: | auto | ||||||||
| Timezone: | EET | ||||||||
| Utc Offset: | +2 | ||||||||
| Timezone Dst: | EEST | ||||||||
| Utc Offset Dst: | +3 | ||||||||
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code | ||||||||
| Module: |
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Merefa is a city in Kharkiv Raion, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. Merefa hosts the administration of Merefa urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine.[1] Population:
It was a village in Kharkovsky Uyezd of Kharkov Governorate of the Russian Empire.
City since 1938.[2]
In January 1989 the population was 28,952 people.[3] In 1992-1996, the Avangard football club of Merefa played in the national championship of Ukraine (third and second league in 1996/97) as a team that won the Kharkiv Oblast Football Championship (4 times in a row) and won prizes in transitional tournaments.
In January 2013 the population was 22,280 people.[4]
On March 17, 2022, at about 3:30 am, Russian servicemen shelled the town of Merefa, Kharkiv district, destroying a secondary school and a house of culture. 15 people were killed. 25 people were injured, 10 of them in serious condition.[5]
Etymologists have not reached a final conclusion, but it is believed that the name originated from the Old Slavic "mьrRs" (to fade), which is derived from the Ukrainian merekhtyty (to flicker; barely visible). Another version is a hydronymic from "merecha" (Ukrainian for forest thicket; dense shrubbery in a swampy lowland), which is based on the Proto-Slavic "merRja" (Ukrainian for swampy place).[6] Among the analogies is also merechytysia (to be seen), which is related to the root mereka ("delusion, ghost") derived from the Proto-Slavic morkъ .[7]