Zdolbuniv Explained

Official Name:Zdolbuniv
Native Name:Здолбунів
Other Name:Polish: Zdołbunów
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Type1:Oblast
Subdivision Name1:Rivne Oblast
Subdivision Type2:Raion
Subdivision Name2:Rivne Raion
Established Title:First mentioned
Established Date:1497
Established Title1:City rights
Leader Title:Mayor
Population As Of:2022
Population Total:24501
Pushpin Map:Ukraine Rivne Oblast#Ukraine
Pushpin Label Position:right
Coordinates:50.5094°N 26.2597°W
Subdivision Type3:Hromada
Subdivision Name3:Zdolbuniv urban hromada

Zdolbuniv (Ukrainian: Здолбунів, Russian: Здолбунов, Polish: Zdołbunów) is a small city in the Rivne Raion of Rivne Oblast (province) of western Ukraine. Prior to the administrative reform of 2020, it was the administrative center of the former Zdolbuniv Raion (district), and it has an important railway station and cement plant (there is a deposit of chalk). Population:

History

The town was mentioned in 1497 in the deed, in which the Lithuanian Grand Duke and future King of Poland Alexander Jagiellon committed several villages to Prince Konstanty Ostrogski. Among the villages mentioned in the deed was Dolbunov. The town has had its present name of Zdolbuniv since 1629. In 1569, following the Union of Lublin, Zdolbuniv became part of the Kingdom of Poland, where it remained for over 200 years, until the Partitions of Poland. In 1793, it was annexed by the Russian Empire, and in the interbellum period, it again belonged to Poland. It was a powiat (country) centre in Wołyń Voivodeship during this period. Zdolbunow, as it was then known, was an important rail hub, located near the Polish-Soviet border. The town had a mixed Polish-Ukrainian-Jewish population.

In September 1939, following the Soviet Invasion of Poland, Zdolbunow was captured by the Soviet Union, where it remained until the Operation Barbarossa. Its Jewish minority was murdered in the Holocaust, and in late 1943, Zdolbunow became a shelter for the ethnic Polish population of Volhynia, escaping the Volhynian Genocide. On February 3, 1944, the town was captured by the Red Army.

Zdolbuniv is the birthplace of a contemporary Polish painter Stanislaw Fijalkowski (born 1922), and singer Teresa Tutinas (born 1943)