Zaporizhzhia Oblast Explained

Zaporizhzhia Oblast
Native Name:Запорізька область
Native Name Lang:uk
Official Name:Zaporizka oblast[1]
Nickname:Ukrainian: Запоріжжя
Settlement Type:Oblast
Flag Alt:Flag of Zaporizhzhia Oblast
Shield Alt:Coat of arms of Zaporizhzhia Oblast
Mapsize:275px
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:Ukraine
Parts Type:Largest cities
Parts Style:para
Established Title:Established
Established Date:10 January 1939
Seat Type:Administrative centre
Seat:Zaporizhzhia
Leader Title:Governor
Leader Name:Ivan Fedorov[2]
Leader Title1:Oblast council
Leader Name1:84 seats
Leader Title2:Chairperson
Leader Name2:Olena Zhuk[3]
Unit Pref:Metric
Area Total Km2:27,183
Area Rank:Ranked 9th
Population Total: 1,638,462
Population Rank:Ranked 9th
Population As Of:2022
Population Blank1 Title:Annual growth
Population Density Km2:60.2
Demographics Type1:Gross Regional Product
Demographics1 Footnotes:[4]
Demographics1 Title1:Total
Demographics1 Info1:₴ 229 billion
(€5.927 billion)
Demographics1 Title2:Per capita
Demographics1 Info2:₴ 138,521
(€3,588)
Blank Name Sec1:Raions
Blank Info Sec1:5
Blank1 Name Sec1:Cities (total)
Blank1 Info Sec1:14
Blank2 Name Sec1:Regional cities
Blank2 Info Sec1:5
Blank3 Name Sec1:
Blank3 Info Sec1:23
Blank4 Name Sec1:Villages
Blank4 Info Sec1:920
Timezone1:EET
Utc Offset1:+02:00
Timezone1 Dst:EEST
Utc Offset1 Dst:+03:00
Postal Code Type:Postal code
Postal Code:69-72
Area Code Type:Area code
Area Code:+380-61
Iso Code:UA-23
Registration Plate Type:Vehicle registration
Blank Name Sec2:FIPS 10-4
Blank Info Sec2:UP26
Website:Zoda.gov.ua

Zaporizhzhia Oblast (Ukrainian: Запорізька область|translit= Zaporizka oblast|link=no), commonly referred to as Zaporizhzhia (Ukrainian: Запоріжжя|label=none), is an oblast (region) in south-east Ukraine. Its administrative centre is Zaporizhzhia. The oblast covers an area of, and has a population of

This oblast is an important part of Ukraine's industry and agriculture. Most of the area of the oblast has been under Russian military occupation since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, including all of the coast, although the capital and the majority of the population remains under Ukrainian administration.

On 30 September 2022, Russia declared it had annexed the Donetsk (Donetsk People's Republic), Luhansk (Luhansk People's Republic), Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts, despite having failed to occupy all of these Ukrainian territories. However, the disputed referendums and subsequent annexations are not internationally recognized.

To the south, Zaporizhzhia Oblast covers roughly of coastline of the Sea of Azov, as part of a coastal region known as Pryazovia, also including the coastal regions of Kherson Oblast and Donetsk Oblast, to the west and east, respectively.

Geography

The area of the oblast is 27,183 km2; its population (estimated as of 1 January 2013) was 1,785,243.

Donetsk Oblast is located within the regions of Zaporizhzhia (northern part) and Pryazovia (southern part).

Cities

The largest cities by priority:

  1. Zaporizhzhia
  2. Melitopol – under Russian occupation
  3. Berdiansk – under Russian occupation
  4. Enerhodar (location of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant) – under Russian occupation
  5. Tokmak – under Russian occupation
  6. Polohy – under Russian occupation
  7. Dniprorudne – under Russian occupation
  8. Vilniansk
  9. Orikhiv
  10. Huliaipole
  11. Vasylivka – under Russian occupation

Relief

Zaporizhzhia Oblast is characterized by a flat landscape. Soils are mostly chernozem. Knowledge of the relief of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast today is especially important because of the problem of land reclamation and its more intensive use.

The territory of Zaporizhzhia Oblast as a whole has a flat topography, but there are markedly elevated and depressed areas, which differ in shape, origin, and age.

The highest central-eastern part of the oblast is the Azov Upland. It extends to the east and to the territory of Donetsk Oblast, where it meets the Donetsk ridge. In the south, between the Azov Upland and the Sea of Azov, is the western part of the Azov coastal plain, which flows into the Black Sea west of the Molochna River. The northeastern end of the coastal plain merges with the Zaporizhzhia inner plain, which borders the southeastern outskirts of the Dnieper Upland. Thus, the territory of Zaporizhzhia Oblast consists of two distinct geomorphological parts: the outskirts of the Azov and Dnipro uplands, which structurally correspond to the southeastern part of the Ukrainian crystalline massif and the outskirts of the coastal Priazov and Black Sea plains, which are located within the Black Sea basin.

History

The area corresponding approximately to the modern Zaporizhzhia Oblast—according to Herodotus—was called in antiquity as the land of Gerrhos. This area was the burial place of the kings of the "Royal Scythians".

Historically, at various times, the territory was ruled either entirely or partly by Scythia, Old Great Bulgaria, Khazars, the Mongol Empire, Lithuania, the Crimean Khanate, Poland, and Russia. Khortytsia, former fortress of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, is located in the province. In 1917–1920 the territory passed subsequently between the Bolsheviks, Ukrainians, White Russians, Makhnovists, the Bolsheviks once again, White Russians once again, and eventually fell to the Bolsheviks in late 1920.[5]

The modern Zaporizhzhia Oblast was created as part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic on 10 January 1939 out of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.During the 1991 Ukrainian independence referendum, 90.66% of votes in the oblast were in favor of the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine.[6]

Russian invasion

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian armed forces occupied the southern part of the oblast, defeating the Ukrainian armed forces at Melitopol and at Enerhodar. Ukrainian forces conducted an attack that destroyed a Russian ship and damaged two others in the port of Berdiansk. the northern parts of the oblast, including its capital city, Zaporizhzhia, are controlled by Ukraine.

On 4–5 July 2022 during the international Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC 2022) hosted in the Swiss city Lugano, the Czech Republic, Finland and Sweden pledged to support the rebuilding of Zaporizhzhia region.[7]

On 23–27 September 2022, the Russian Federation held a referendum in the occupied territories of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts for "independence and subsequent entry into the Russian Federation". These referendums are recognized by most states to be staged and against international law. On 29 September 2022, the Russian Federation recognized Zaporizhzhia Oblast as an independent state.[8] On 30 September, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced the annexation of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast and three other Ukrainian territories, and signed "accession decrees" that are widely considered to be illegal.[9] [10] At that time, Russia was only in control of about 70% of the province as a whole.[11] The United Nations General Assembly subsequently passed a resolution calling on countries not to recognise what it described as an "attempted illegal annexation" and demanded that Russia "immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw".[12]

Points of interest

The following sites were nominated for the Seven Wonders of Ukraine.

Subdivisions

See main article: Administrative divisions of Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

Following the reforms of 2020, the oblast is divided into five new raions, which is reduced from 25. The system of municipalities (cities of regional significance) that were directly subordinate to the oblast government was discontinued. All populated places were subordinated to raion (district) government.

Name Ukrainian name Area
(km2)
Population
census 2001
Population
estimate 2021[13]
Admin. center
Бердянський район 4,456 214,062 179,118
Мелітопольський район 6,962 318,353 280,816 Melitopol
Пологівський район 6,767 216,933 167,060 Polohy
Василівський район 4,295 217,018 184,224
Запорізький район 4,693 962,805 855,297

Russian occupation

Since March of 2022, the armed forces of the Russian Federation control bigger portion of the Zaporizhia Oblast. The city of Melitopol is serving as a temporary administration center for the occupied territories. Frontlines stretch through Vasylivka and Polohy raions and just north of both cities of Vasylivka and Polohy.

Demographics

According to the 2001 Ukrainian Census, the population of the oblast was 1,929,171. Some 70.8% considered themselves Ukrainians, while 24.7% were Russians, the rest nationalities were Bulgarians (1.4%), Belarusians (0.7%), and others (1.6%). Almost half the population (48.2%) considered the Russian language their native.[14]

Age structure

0–14 years: 13.5% (male 124,285/female 116,613)

15–64 years: 70.7% (male 598,849/female 662,838)

65 years and over: 15.8% (male 91,051/female 190,818) (2013 official)

Median age

total: 41.2 years

male: 37.5 years

female: 44.8 years (2013 official)

Fertility

Year Fertility Birth Year !Fertility Birth Year !Fertility Birth
1990 1,7 25 960 2000 1,0 13 900 2010 1,3 18 018
1991 1,7 24 739 2001 1,0 14 010 2011 1,4 18 198
1992 1,5 22 624 2002 1,1 14 865
1993 1,4 20 881 2003 1,1 15 301
1994 1,3 19 265 2004 1,1 16 091
1995 1,2 17 820 2005 1,2 15 862
1996 1,2 16 764 2006 1,2 17 241
1997 1,1 16 234 2007 1,3 17 591
1998 1,1 14 968 2008 1,4 18 901
1999 1,0 13 880 2009 1,4 18 409

Education

679 daytime and 11 evening state schools plus 6 daytime schools that are non-budget supported secondary schools involved 271,400 pupils in 2001. 22 classical schools, 8 lyceums, a Sichovy collegium and 54 education-breeding complex bodies aren't out of reach to gifted children. New style 38 complex kindergarten-schools work too.[15]

Over 60,000 children develop their talents through out-of-school institutions. They attend 30 creative centres, 6 science-technical stations and four young naturalists' stations, five tourist clubs, three training flotillas, 11 children's sports clubs and 20 sports schools. The extra-scholastic education system has such a unique body as the Small Academy of Science. Boys and girls work there in six main disciplines: physics-mathematics, chemistry-biology, history-geography, philology, industrial and information technologies. The Small Academy young members maintain close friendly relations with scientists of big institutes and universities. 26 youngsters became winners of the All-Ukrainian Academy contest, so the Zaporizhzhia oblast team gained the 1st place.

325 secondary schools, five classical schools, a collegium, and three comprehensive schools use the Ukrainian language. Nevertheless, the minorities have a free choice—193 schools are Russian, a large Jewish school «Alef» works in Zaporizhzhia and smaller ones exist in other points, a Ukrainian-Bulgarian Lyceum is in Primorsky district. The Greek, Czech, Bulgarian languages are very popular in Yakimivsky, Berdyansky, Priazovsky and Melitopole rural districts. One may learn Hebrew, Yiddish, German, Polish, Tatar and other languages attending option courses anywhere.

Specialists keep on looking for an adaptive school model. 26 institutions develop the humanization process using new teaching technologies. The Khortitsky multi-profile teaching-rehabilitation centre has worked out methods for complete support of sanatorium-boarding-schools' children. Berdiansk is the town where a regional boarding school for orphans works out active socialization programs.

42 institutions provide vocational education. This system distributes well-trained workers to regional industries and businesses. The list of specialties includes over 100 names. Vocational schools give courses for improving qualifications in cooperation with unemployment centres. More than 1,500 jobless persons get new professions every year due to it.

The higher education system is the most flexible and advanced. Today, 25 state-controlled technical colleges have I-II class rank and 8 higher institutions have III-IV class certificates. These are the university and the Zaporizhzhia Politechnic, the Medical University and the Institute of Law with Ministry of Internal Affairs in Zaporizhzhia City, the Pedagogical University, the Agricultural Academy in Melitopol and the Pedagogical Institute in Berdiansk. There are also five higher-education private bodies—the Institute of Economics and Information Technologies, the State and Municipal Government Institute and the others. Over 65,000 people are students in this oblast. There are 212 Doctors of Science and 1,420 Candidates of Science among their lecturers. The city of Zaporizhzhia is one of the biggest centres for foreigners' education in Ukraine.

The International Astronomical Union named two minor planets 5936 Khadzhinov and 19082 Vikchernov in honor of Ukrainians from Zaporizhizhia Oblast who made a significant contribution in science and education.

Economics

Gross regional product

The volume of the gross regional product (GRP) of the oblast in 2016 amounted to 104,323 million (9th place among the regions). The total contribution of the oblast to the GRP of Ukraine was 4.4%.

The index of the physical volume of gross regional product in the previous year's prices was 99.7%.

The amount of gross value added (GVA) in 2016 amounted to ₴82,054 million (9th place among the oblasts).

The total contribution of the oblast to the GVA of Ukraine amounted to 4.1% in 2016.

The index of physical volume of gross value added in previous year's prices was 99.8%.

The main types of economic activity that form the GVA of the oblast are:

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Syvak. Nina. Ponomarenko. Valerii. Khodzinska. Olha. Lakeichuk. Iryna. 2011. Veklych. Lesia. scientific consultant Iryna Rudenko; reviewed by Nataliia Kizilowa; translated by Olha Khodzinska. Toponymic Guidelines for Map and Other Editors for International Use. 20. 2020-10-06. United Nations Statistics Division. DerzhHeoKadastr and Kartographia. Kyiv. 978-966-475-839-7.
  2. Web site: 2024-02-04 . Zelensky replaces Zaporizhzhia Oblast governor . 2024-02-05 . The Kyiv Independent . en.
  3. Web site: For the first time in the history of the Zaporizhhia Regional Council, a woman became its head . Zaporizhzhia Regional Council . 14 July 2023.
  4. Web site: Валовии регіональнии продукт.
  5. Web site: ZAPORIZHZHIA: A LAND OF INDUSTRIAL CAPACITY, OUTSTANDING PEOPLE, AND THE ISLAND THAT CHANGED HISTORY .
  6. News: http://dt.ua/UKRAINE/lishe-3-ukrayinciv-hochut-priyednannya-yih-oblasti-do-rosiyi-160641_.html . uk:Лише 3% українців хочуть приєднання їх області до Росії . uk . Only 3% of Ukrainians want their region to become part of Russia . . 3 January 2015 .
  7. Web site: Провідні країни Європи відбудовуватимуть Україну, – Гайдай . 2022-07-11 . LB.ua. 5 July 2022 .
  8. Web site: 2022-09-29 . Putin signs decrees paving way for annexing Ukraine territories of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia . 2022-09-30 . the Guardian . en.
  9. Web site: 2022-09-30 . Putin annexes four regions of Ukraine in major escalation of Russia's war . 2022-09-30 . the Guardian . en.
  10. News: Maynes . Charles . Putin illegally annexes territories in Ukraine, in spite of global opposition . 30 September 2022 . NPR . 30 September 2022 . en.
  11. News: 2022-09-30 . Factbox: The four regions that Russia is poised to annex from Ukraine . en . Reuters . 2022-09-30.
  12. Web site: Ukraine: UN General Assembly demands Russia reverse course on 'attempted illegal annexation' . 12 October 2022 .
  13. State Statistics Committee of Ukraine (web)
  14. National composition of the population. 2001 Ukrainian Population Census. State Statistics Committee of Ukraine
  15. Запорізька область: Ілюстрована енциклопедія. [Т.2]: Архітектура і містобудування. Культура. Економіка. Райони області / К.С. Карафін, О. І. Красюк. -Запоріжжя : Дике Поле, 2004. - 293 с.
  16. Web site: Express issue . Ukrstat . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20190607065315/http://ukrstat.gov.ua/express/expr2018/03/48.zip . 7 June 2019.