Kharkiv Oblast

Kharkiv Oblast (Ukrainian: Харківська область, translit. Kharkivs’ka oblast’; also referred to as Kharkivshchyna – Ukrainian: Харківщина, Russian: Харьковская область, translit. Khar’kovskaya oblast’) is an oblast (province) in eastern Ukraine. The oblast borders Russia to the north, Luhansk Oblast to the east, Donetsk Oblast to the south-east, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast to the south-west, Poltava Oblast to the west and Sumy Oblast to the north-west. The area of the oblast is 31,400 km², corresponding to 5.2% of the total territory of Ukraine.

The oblast is the third most populous province of Ukraine, with a population of 2,857,751 in 2004, more than half (1.5 million) of whom live in the city of Kharkiv, the oblast's administrative center. While the Russian language is primarily spoken in the cities of Kharkiv oblast, elsewhere in the oblast most inhabitants speak Ukrainian.

History

During the Soviet administrative reform of 1923–1929, in 1925, the Kharkov Governorate was abolished leaving its five okruhas: Okhtyrka (originally Bohodukhiv), Izyum, Kupyansk, Sumy, and Kharkiv. Introduced in the Soviet Union in 1923, a similar subdivisions existed in Ukraine back in 1918. In 1930 all okruhas were also abolished with raions becoming the first level of subdivision of Ukraine until 1932.

Kharkiv

Kharkiv (Ukrainian: Харків, pronounced [ˈxɑrkiu̯]), or Kharkov (Russian: Ха́рьков; IPA: [ˈxarʲkəf]), is the second-largest city of Ukraine. Located in the north-east of the country, it is the largest city of the Slobozhanshchyna historical region. The city has a population of about 1.5 million people.

The city was founded in 1654 and after a humble beginning as a small fortress grew out to a major centre of Ukrainian culture within the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine occupied by Soviet troops in December 1917. It functioned as the first capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic until January 1935, after which the capital relocated to Kiev. Kharkiv is the administrative centre of Kharkiv Oblast and of the surrounding Kharkiv district.

Kharkiv operates as a major cultural, scientific, educational, transport and industrial centre of Ukraine, with 60 scientific institutes, 30 establishments of higher education, 6 museums, 7 theatres and 80 libraries. Its industry specialises primarily in machinery and in electronics. There are hundreds of industrial companies in the city, including globally important giants like the Morozov Design Bureau and the Malyshev Tank Factory (leaders in world tank production from the 1930s to the 1980s); Khartron (aerospace and nuclear electronics); and the Turboatom turbines producer.

Kharkiv (disambiguation)

Kharkiv may refer to:

See also

List of minor planets: 9001–10000