Kirovohrad Oblast

Kirovohrad Oblast Кіровоградська область
Oblast
Kirovohradska oblast[1]
Flag Coat of arms
Nickname:  Кіровоградщина (Kirovohradshchyna)
Coordinates: 48.46°N 32.27°E / 48.46; 32.27
Country	Ukraine
Established	10 January 1939
Administrative center	Kropyvnytskyi
Government
• Governor	Andriy Raykovych
• Oblast council	64 seats
• Chairperson	Yuriy Drozd (Servant of the People)
Area
• Total	24,588 km^2 (9,493 sq mi)
• Rank	Ranked 15th
Population  (2022)[2]
• Total	903,712
• Rank	Ranked 25th
GDP [3]
• Total	₴ 100 billion (€2.6 billion)
• Per capita	₴ 109,183 (€2,800)
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal code	25000-27999
Area code	+380-52
ISO 3166 code	UA-35
Vehicle registration	ВA
Raions	4
Cities (total)	12
• Regional cities	0
Urban-type settlements	26
Villages	1015
HDI (2022)	0.727[4] high
FIPS 10-4	UP10
Website	kr-admin.gov.ua

Kirovohrad Oblast (Ukrainian: Кіровоградська область, romanized: Kirovohradska oblast), also known as Kirovohradshchyna (Ukrainian: Кіровоградщина), is an oblast (province) in central Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Kropyvnytskyi. Its population is 903,712 (2022 estimate).^[2] It is Ukraine's second least populated oblast, behind Chernivtsi.

In 2019, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine approved the change of the oblast's name to Kropyvnytskyi Oblast (Ukrainian: Кропивницька область, romanized: Kropyvnytska oblast, unofficially Kropyvnychchyna (Ukrainian: Кропивниччина)).^[5] The change is not yet implemented. The largest cities of the region are Kropyvnytskyi, Oleksandriia, Znamianka and Svitlovodsk.

Geography

The area of the province is 24,600 square kilometres (9,500 sq mi).

The city of Dobrovelychkivka is the geographical center of Ukraine.

Most of the region is located within historic Right-bank Ukraine and Zaporizhzhia, and the western outskirts are part of historic Podolia.

History

See also: Kherson Governorate

The lands of the modern Kirovohrad Oblast were first inhabited by Scythians.^[6][7] In the Middle Ages, during the time of Kyivan Rus', the East Slavic tribe of Ulichis lived here.^[8] After the liberation of the former Kyivan Rus' from the Tatars in the Battle of Blue Waters and the unification of the principalities of Kyiv, Pereyaslav, and Chernihiv with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania,^[9][10] there was a need to protect the southeastern borders from attacks by the Crimean Khanate and Moscovy - states that were formed after the collapse of the Golden Horde at the end of the 15th century. For this, Dmytro Vyshnevetsky founded the first Zaporozhian Sich on the island of Khortytsia, thus the Ukrainian Cossacs appeared.^[11] On the territory of the modern Kirovohrad region the Zaporozhians founded many villages. From 1569, the territory formed of the Kingdom of Poland within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

These lands were under the rule of the Ukrainian Cossacks of Hetmanate and Zaporozhian Sich from XV to XVIII century.^[12]

One of the unique granite columns with which the Cossacks marked their territory

As a result of the destruction of Ukrainian Cossacks and the enslavement of Ukrainians by the Russian government at the end of the 18th century, these lands came under the direct power of Russia.^[13][14] In 1752, the territory of New Serbia was founded with the capital in Novomyrhorod.

In the 1800s, majority of the landed was owned by the noble Skarżyński family.^[15] They played a large role in the development of the region. An emphasis was placed on the development of its agriculture and the Skarzynskis opened a school in Migeya dedicated to this.^[16]

The oblast was created as part of the Ukrainian SSR on January 10, 1939 out of the northern raions of Mykolaiv Oblast. Before establishment, its territory was part of Kherson Governorate (most of it) and Podolia Governorate (smaller portion) until 1925. Earlier before occupation of Ukraine in 1920s, in 1918 there were plans to introduce own Ukrainian administrative territorial division with territory of modern Kirovohrad Oblast being split between lands of Nyz (Lower land), Pobozhia (Boh land), and Cherkasy.

During the Soviet repressions, over 40,000 residents of the region were killed.^{[17][18][19] [20]}

During World War II, the oblast was under Nazi occupation from 1941 to 1944 and was liberatedas a result of Kirovograd offensive.

In 1954, the oblast lost some raions to the newly created Cherkasy Oblast, but later that year received its western raions from the Odesa Oblast.

Between 1939 and 2016, the oblast administrative center, Kropyvnytskyi, was called Kirovohrad and was named after the First Secretary of the Leningrad City Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Sergei Kirov.^[21] Due to decommunization laws (on 14 July 2016) the name of the city was changed to Kropyvnytskyi.^[21] Kirovohrad Oblast was not renamed because as such it is mentioned in the Constitution of Ukraine, and the Oblast can only be renamed by a constitutional amendment by the Verkhovna Rada.^[22]

On 20 June 2018, the Committee on State Building, Regional Policy and Local Self-Government of the Ukrainian parliament backed the proposal to rename Kirovohrad Oblast to Kropyvnytskyi Oblast.^[23] In February 2019, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine declared constitutional the bill on renaming Kirovohrad Oblast to Kropyvnytskyi Oblast.^[24][25] The renaming was supported by the local Oblast Council in March 2021.^[26][27] The process then stalled in the parliament, with the oblast council asking the Verkhovna Rada to speed up the process in September 2022.^[28]

Points of interest

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

• Khutir Nadiia, outskirts of Mykolaivka village

The oblast also has a number of archaeological sites, such as Nebelivka site and Melgunov Kurgan.

Administrative divisions

Raions of Kirovohrad Oblast as of August 2020.

Main article: Administrative divisions of Kirovohrad Oblast

Kirovohrad Oblast
As of January 1, 2022
Number of districts (райони)	4
Number of hromadas (громади)	49

Raions

No.	Name	Coat of arms	Population, (2020).	Area, km²	Density, per km²	Administrative center	Map	Subdivisions
1	Holovanivsk		122,952	4,244	28.97	Holovanivsk		10 hromadas
2	Kropyvnytskyi		442,997	9,709	45.62	Kropyvnytskyi		17 hromadas
3	Novoukrainka		140,539	5,196	27	Novoukrainka		13 hromadas
4	Oleksandriia		226,721	5,405	41.94	Oleksandriia		9 hromadas

Before the July 2020 reform, Kirovohrad Oblast was administratively subdivided into 21 raions (districts) as well as 4 cities (municipalities) which were directly subordinate to the oblast government: Oleksandriia, Svitlovodsk, Znamianka, and the administrative center of the oblast, Kropyvnytskyi.

Demographics

Language

According to the 2001 Ukrainian census, Ukrainian was the mother tongue of 88.9% of the population, for 10.0% it was Russian, and for 1.1% it was another language.

According to a survey "Is the language (ir)relevant?" (Ukrainian: "Мова (не) на часі?"), which took place in Kirovohrad Oblast from 12 to 22 October 2023, 96.7% of respondents named Ukrainian as their mother tongue, while 2.6% named Russian as their mother tongue. In everyday life, 66.4% of respondents spoke Ukrainian, 29.4% spoke Surzhyk, and 3.4% spoke Russian.^[29]

Age structure

0-14 years: 14.3% (male 72,646/female 68,970)

15-64 years: 68.7% (male 324,698/female 355,058)

65 years and over: 17.0% (male 55,718/female 111,666) (2013 official)

Median age

total: 41.2 years

male: 37.7 years

female: 44.5 years (2013 official)

Nomenclature

Most of Ukraine's oblasts are named after their capital cities, officially referred to as "oblast centers" (Ukrainian: обласний центр, translit. oblasnyi tsentr). The name of each oblast is a relative adjective, formed by adding a feminine suffix to the name of the respective center city: Kirovohrad was the former name of the center of the Kirovohrads’ka oblast’ (Kirovohrad Oblast). Most oblasts are also sometimes referred to in a feminine noun form, following the convention of traditional regional place names, ending with the suffix "-shchyna", as is the case with the Kirovohrad Oblast, Kirovohradshchyna.

See also: Romanization of Ukrainian

Facts

• Berestuvate Lake in the Black Forest near the Znamianka is one of the top 7 mystical places of Ukraine ^[30]
• It was in the territory of the modern Kirovohrad Oblast that Semen Klymovsky, the author of a famous folk song "The Cossack Rode beyond the Danube" died ^[31]

Gallery

• 
  Hospital in Novomyrhorod
• 
  Former hospital in Nova Praha
• 
  Khutir Nadiia museum
• 
  Cathedral of Nativity of Mary in Kropyvnytskyi
• 
  Theater in Oleksandriia
• 
  Near Inhul River
• 
  Panski Hory landscape reserve
• 
  Confluence of Berezivka and Inhul rivers
• 
  Black Forest
• 
  Memorial to Semen Klymovsky in the village of Moshoryne

See also

• Administrative divisions of Ukraine

References

1. Syvak, Nina; Ponomarenko, Valerii; Khodzinska, Olha; Lakeichuk, Iryna (2011). Veklych, Lesia (ed.). Toponymic Guidelines for Map and Other Editors for International Use (PDF). scientific consultant Iryna Rudenko; reviewed by Nataliia Kizilowa; translated by Olha Khodzinska. Kyiv: DerzhHeoKadastr and Kartographia. p. 20. ISBN 978-966-475-839-7. Retrieved 2020-10-06. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
2. Чисельність наявного населення України на 1 січня 2022 [Number of Present Population of Ukraine, as of January 1, 2022] (PDF) (in Ukrainian and English). Kyiv: State Statistics Service of Ukraine. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 July 2022.
3. "Валовии регіональнии продукт".
4. "Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab". hdi.globaldatalab.org.
5. "The Opinion of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine in the case of renaming the Kirovohrad oblast is given". Українське право - інформаційно-правовий портал. 5 February 2019.
6. Антропологічний склад українського народу: етногенетичний аспект. — К.: Видавництво ім. Олени Теліги, 2001
7. Геродот «Історія» Кн. 4. Абз. 11.
8. Повесть временных лет, т. I. М.; Л., 1950. С. 20, 21
9. Stryjkowski, Kronika Polska... 1846: 6—7.
10. Брайченко Олексій. Синьоводська проблема: перспективи комплексних краєзнавчих досліджень // Синьоводська проблема у новітніх дослідженнях. — К., 2005. — С. 37.
11. Єдине відоме на сьогодні писемне джерело, котре ясно вказує на місце будівництва замку (хроніка Йоахима та Мартина Бєльських), називає острів Малу Хортицю
12. Громко Т. В. Семантичні особливості народної географічної термінології Центральної України (на матеріалі Кіровоградщини). — Кіровоград, 2000
13. Яворницький Д. І. Історія запорозьких козаків. — К., 1991. — Т. І.
14. Ключевский В. О. Происхождение крепостного права в России / В. Ключевский. — СПб., 1885.
15. "Скаржинские". 21 February 2011.
16. "Ольгинская сельскохозяйственная школа /Ольгинско-Скаржинская сельскохозяйственная школа, Ольгинско-Скаржинское сельскохозяйственное училище/". 31 October 2012.
17. Виконавчий комітет Знам'янської міської ради, Архівний відділ міської ради, Відділ внутрішньої політики міськвиконкому Чорна смуга довжиною в два роки. Книга пам'яті міста Знам'янки та смт. Знам'янка Друга Кіровоградської області — Знам'янка, 2008
18. Олександр Рябошапка Знам'янка: залізниця, історія, люди. — Кіровоград, Цетрально-Українське видавництво, 1995 (ст. 20 — 21).
19. Олександрія. Геоінформаційна система місць «Голодомор 1932—1933 років в Україні». Український інститут національної пам'яті.
20. Історія міста. Новоукраїнська міська рада (uk-ua) . Процитовано 17 листопада 2021
21. Goodbye, Lenin: Ukraine moves to ban communist symbols, BBC News (14 April 2015)
    (in Ukrainian) Verkhovna Rada renamed Kirovograd, Ukrayinska Pravda (14 July 2016)
22. Ukraine, The World Factbook
23. Ukraine's parliament committee backs renaming of Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad regions, UNIAN (20 June 2018)
24. "Надано Висновок Конституційного Суду України в справі щодо перейменування Кіровоградської області | Конституційний Суд України". www.ccu.gov.ua. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
25. "Constitutional Court Declares Bill Renaming Kirovohrad Region As Kropyvnytskyi Region Constitutional". ukranews.com. 2019-02-06. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
26. "Перейменування Кіровоградської області - звернення до ВРУ". Suspilne (in Ukrainian). 2021-03-30.
27. Купюр, Без (2021-04-22). "Верховна Рада відреагувала на звернення про перейменування Кіровоградщини формально | Без Купюр - Новини Кропивницького і Кіровоградщини". Без Купюр (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2023-02-04.
28. "Кіровоградська облрада закликала Верховну Раду пришвидшити перейменування області". hromadske.ua (in Ukrainian). 2022-09-21. Retrieved 2023-02-04.
29. "Ставлення до української змінилося. Дані опитування щодо мови на Кіровоградщини". 27 October 2023.
30. Україні є озеро, яке не має дна і ніколи не замерзає
31. Пам’ятні знаки Семену Климовському

External links

• "Main". Official web-site of the Kirovohrad Oblast State Administration (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 13 August 2006. Retrieved 7 April 2014.