Oblasts of Ukraine

Oblasts of Ukraine
Oblasts of Ukraine
	Sea of Azov Black Sea Dnieper • Chernihiv Chernivtsi Cherkasy Dnipropetrovsk Donetsk Ivan.-Fr. Kharkiv Kherson Kyiv Kirovohrad Khmel. Luhansk Lviv Mykolaiv Odesa Poltava Rivne Sumy Ternopil Vinnytsia Volyn Zakarpattia Zaporizhzhia Zhytomyr •Sevastopol Crimea Russia Belarus Poland Slov. Hung. Romania Moldova Serb.
Category	First-level subdivision of a unitary state
Location	Ukraine
Created	27 February 1932 (92 years ago);
Number	24 (as of 1991)
Populations	897,000 (Chernivtsi) to 4,157,000 (Donetsk)
Areas	8,100 km2 (3,126 sq mi) (Chernivtsi) to 33,300 km2 (12,860 sq mi) (Odesa)
Government	Oblast State Administration,; Oblast Council;
Subdivisions	136 raions (districts);

An oblast (Ukrainian: область, romanized: oblast, pronounced [ˈɔblɐsʲtʲ] ^ⓘ; pl. області, oblasti) in Ukraine, sometimes translated as region or province, is the main type of first-level administrative division of the country. Ukraine's territory is divided into 24 oblasts, as well as one autonomous republic and two cities with special status. Ukraine is a unitary state, thus the oblasts do not have much legal scope of competence other than that which is established in the Ukrainian Constitution and devolved by law. Articles 140–146 of Chapter XI of the constitution deal directly with local authorities and their competence.

Oblasts are divided into raions, each oblast having from 3 to 8 raions following the July 2020 reform.^[1]

General characteristics

In Ukraine, the term oblast denotes a primary administrative division. Under the Russian Empire and into the 1920s, Ukraine was divided between several governorates. The term oblast was introduced in 1932 by Soviet authorities when the Ukrainian SSR was divided into seven oblasts, replacing the previous subdivision system based on okruhas and encompassing 406 raions (districts).^[2] The first oblasts were Vinnytsia Oblast, Kyiv Oblast, Odesa Oblast, Kharkiv Oblast, and Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Soon after that, in the summer of 1932, Donetsk Oblast was formed out of eastern parts of Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts; in the fall of 1932 Chernihiv Oblast was formed on the border of Kyiv and Kharkiv oblasts.

Between 1935 and 1938, there were several newly created and self-governed special border okrugs (okruhas) located along the western border of the Soviet Union in Ukraine and Belarus. Upon liquidation of the okruhas in 1937–1938, Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Odesa, and Kharkiv oblasts were each split into four additional oblasts (Zhytomyr Oblast, Kamianets-Podilsky Oblast (later Khmelnytskyi), Mykolaiv Oblast, Poltava Oblast). Just before World War II, the Donetsk Oblast was split into Stalino Oblast and Voroshylovhrad Oblast and the Kirovohrad Oblast was created out of portions of Kyiv, Mykolaiv and Odesa oblasts.

During World War II, Ukraine added eight more oblasts of the West Ukraine and Bessarabia. Upon the occupation of Ukraine by Nazi Germany the territory was split between General Government, Kingdom of Romania and Reichskommissariat Ukraine and carried out a completely different administrative division, see Reichskommissariat Ukraine. With the re-establishing of Soviet power in the state after the war, the administrative division by oblast resumed, adding one more oblast—Zakarpattia. In 1954, the Crimean Oblast was transferred from the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to the Ukrainian SSR; parts of the surrounding oblasts were incorporated into the Cherkasy Oblast, while Izmail Oblast was absorbed by Odesa Oblast. In 1959, Drohobych Oblast was merged with Lviv Oblast.

Most of Ukraine's oblasts are named after their respective administrative centers, which are also the largest and most developed cities in the region. Oblast populations range from 904,000 in Chernivtsi Oblast to 4.4 million in the eastern Donetsk Oblast.

Original in 1932

Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, centered in Dnipropetrovsk (subdivided into raions)
Kharkiv Oblast, centered in Kharkiv (subdivided into raions)
Kyiv Oblast, centered in Kyiv (subdivided into raions)
Odesa Oblast, centered in Odesa (subdivided into raions)
Vinnytsia Oblast, centered in Vinnytsia (subdivided into raions)
raions of republican subordination (directly to Kharkiv)

Later there were added

Donetsk Oblast, centered in Stalino (initially – Artemivsk) (created on 17 July 1932 out of raions of Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts and raions of republican subordination)
Chernihiv Oblast, centered in Chernihiv (created on 15 October 1932 out of raions of Kharkiv and Kyiv oblasts)

Further division in 1937–1938

Kamianets-Podilsk Oblast, centered in Kamianets-Podilsk (out of raions of Vinnytsia Oblast)
Mykolaiv Oblast, centered in Mykolaiv (out of raions of Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts)
Poltava Oblast, centered in Poltava (out of raions of Kharkiv and Kyiv oblasts)
Zhytomyr Oblast, centered in Zhytomyr (out of raions of Vinnytsia and Kyiv oblasts)
Donetsk Oblast was split into Stalino Oblast, centered in Stalino, and Voroshylovhrad Oblast, centered in Voroshylovhrad

New creations and World War II territorial expansions in 1939–1940

Kirovohrad Oblast, centered in Kirovohrad (out of raions of Kyiv, Odesa, Poltava and Mykolaiv oblasts)
Sumy Oblast, centered in Sumy (out of raions of Chernihiv, Poltava and Kharkiv oblasts)
Zaporizhzhia Oblast, centered in Zaporizhzhia (out of raions of Dnipropetrovsk and Mykolaiv oblasts)
Drohobych Oblast, centered in Drohobych
Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, centered in Ivano-Frankivsk
Lviv Oblast, centered in Lviv
Volyn Oblast, centered in Lutsk
Rivne Oblast, centered in Rivne
Tarnopol Oblast, centered in Tarnopol
Chernivtsi Oblast, centered in Chernivtsi
Izmail Oblast, centered in Izmail

Postwar

Kherson Oblast, centered in Kherson
Zakarpattia Oblast, centered in Uzhhorod
Cherkasy Oblast, centered in Cherkasy
Crimean Oblast, centered in Simferopol

Maps

The okruhas of Ukraine in 1929–1930
After 1935; including recently created Donetsk and Chernihiv Oblasts and border okruhas
Border okruhas are liquidated and four additional oblasts created in 1937
Creation of additional oblasts just before World War II
Post-war divisions of Ukraine

Constitutional provisions and authority

The Ukrainian constitution establishes Ukraine as a unitary state. The specific text of the constitution that refers to the territorial structure is as follows.

The territorial structure of Ukraine is based on the principles of unity and indivisibility of the state territory, the combination of centralisation and decentralisation in the exercise of state power, and the balanced socio-economic development of regions that takes into account their historical, economic, ecological, geographical and demographic characteristics, and ethnic and cultural traditions.
— Constitution of Ukraine, Chapter IX: Territorial Structure of Ukraine, Article 132

Each of Ukraine's oblasts has its own legislative and executive authority, most of which is subordinate to the central government authorities in Kyiv. Each region is administered under laws passed by the Ukrainian government and the Constitution of Ukraine. Each region levies its own taxes and, in return, receives a portion of its budget from Kyiv, which gives them a portion of the taxes it levies.^[3]

Executive power in each of the oblasts (as well as in other subdivisions of Ukraine) is exercised by local elected administrations.^[4] The heads of local administrations are in turn appointed and dismissed by the President of Ukraine upon nomination by the Cabinet of Ministers.^[4]^[5] Since Ukraine is a unitary state, there is little true political power and weight that these local administrations actually hold. Carrying out their authority, the heads of local administrations are accountable to the President and are subordinate to higher bodies of executive leadership.^[4] According to the Constitution the head of the heads of the local Oblast administrations should resign after a new President is elected.^[6]

Legislative power in the oblast governments is exercised by their respective oblast councils, which in turn supervise the activities of local administrations.^[4] They also have considerable budgets managed by an oblast council (Ukrainian: обласна рада) made up of people's deputies (representatives) voted into office in regional elections every four years, the last of which took place in 2020.

Nomenclature

The name of each oblast is a relative adjective, formed by adding a feminine suffix to the name of respective center city. E.g. Poltava is a center of Poltavs'ka oblast' (Poltava Oblast). Most of them are also sometimes referred to in a feminine noun form, following the convention of traditional regional place names, ending with the suffix "-shchyna". E.g. Poltava Oblast is also called Poltavshchyna (Ukrainian: Полтавщина).

Exceptions to this rule include two oblasts, Volyn and Zakarpattia, which retain the names of their respective historical regions, Volyn (Volhynia) and Zakarpattia (Transcarpathia), whose respective capitals are Lutsk and Uzhhorod.^[7]

The capital cities of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and Kirovohrad Oblast were renamed to Dnipro and Kropyvnytskyi in 2016 as part of a process of replacing Soviet toponyms. As the names of the oblasts are mentioned in the Ukrainian Constitution changing them requires a complicated and lengthy process, thus as of 2024 the two oblasts still formally retain their Soviet names.^[7]

List

According to the Ukrainian constitution, Ukraine is divided into 24 oblasts.^[8] However, 4 oblasts are disputed and mostly de facto under control of Russia.^[9] These oblasts are written in the italic typeface.

Region	Area (km²)	Population (2022)	Pop. density	Administrative center	Raions	Hromadas	License plate prefix
Cherkasy Oblast	20,891	1,198,000	61.80	Cherkasy	4	66	CA, IA
Chernihiv Oblast	31,851.3	994,000	34.67	Chernihiv	5	57	CB, IB
Chernivtsi Oblast	8,093.6	897,000	111.67	Chernivtsi	3	52	CE, IE
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast	31,900.5	3,214,000	104.83	Dnipro	7	86	AE, KE
Donetsk Oblast	26,505.7	4,157,000	167.81	Donetsk (Kramatorsk)	8	66	AH, KH
Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast	13,894.0	1,382,000	99.38	Ivano-Frankivsk	6	62	AT, KT
Kharkiv Oblast	31,401.6	2,683,000	87.74	Kharkiv	7	56	AX, KX
Kherson Oblast	28,449	1,026,000	38.35	Kherson	5	49	BT, HT
Khmelnytskyi Oblast	20,636.2	1,274,000	64.52	Khmelnytskyi	3	60	BX, HX
Kirovohrad Oblast	24,577.5	958,000	41.29	Kropyvnytskyi	4	49	BA, HA
Kyiv Oblast	28,118.9	1,775,000	61.15	Kyiv	7	69	AI, KI
Luhansk Oblast	26,672.5	2,145,000	86.25	Luhansk (Sievierodonetsk)	8	37	BB, HB
Lviv Oblast	21,823.7	2,515,000	116.65	Lviv	7	73	BC, HC
Mykolaiv Oblast	24,587.4	1,126,000	48.25	Mykolaiv	4	52	BE, HE
Odesa Oblast	33,295.9	2,395,000	71.71	Odesa	7	91	BH, HH
Poltava Oblast	28,735.8	1,392,000	51.98	Poltava	4	60	BI, HI
Rivne Oblast	20,038.5	1,146,000	57.52	Rivne	4	64	BK, HK
Sumy Oblast	23,823.9	1,094,000	48.97	Sumy	5	51	BM, HM
Ternopil Oblast	13,817.1	1,035,000	78.65	Ternopil	3	55	BO, HO
Vinnytsia Oblast	26,501.6	1,566,000	62.12	Vinnytsia	6	63	AB, KB
Volyn Oblast	20,135.3	1,046,000	51.56	Lutsk	4	54	AC, KC
Zakarpattia Oblast	12,771.5	1,247,000	97.59	Uzhhorod	6	64	AO, KO
Zaporizhzhia Oblast	27,168.5	1,699,000	66.45	Zaporizhzhia	5	67	AP, KP
Zhytomyr Oblast	29,819.2	1,213,000	43.03	Zhytomyr	4	65	AM, KM

Former

Izmail Oblast (initially as Akkerman Oblast) existed in 1940–41 and 1944–54 (under Romanian occupation, later was added to Odesa Oblast)
Drohobych Oblast existed from 1939–1941 and 1944–1959 (under German occupation, it was merged into Lviv Oblast)
Crimean Oblast (1954–1991) was transformed into Crimean ASSR

Renamed

Stalino Oblast was the name of Donetsk Oblast 1938–41 and 1943–61 (created out of the united Donetsk Oblast 1932–38, German occupation 1941–43)
Akkerman Oblast was the name of Izmail Oblast 1940
Stanislav Oblast was the name of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast 1939–41 and 1944–62 (German occupation 1941–44)
Kamianetsk-Podilska Oblast was the name of Khmelnytskyi Oblast 1937–41 and 1944–54 (German occupation 1941–44, later transfer of administrative center to Khmelnytskyi)
Voroshylovhrad Oblast was the name of Luhansk Oblast 1938–42, 1943–58 and 1970–90 (German occupation 1942–43)
Tarnopil Oblast was the name of Ternopil Oblast 1939–41 (renamed soon after World War II)

The Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and Kirovohrad Oblast are pending renaming following the renaming of their capital cities to Dnipro and Kropyvnytskyi.

Government

Governors and legislatures

Name	Executive		Legislature
Name	Governor	Current Governor	Oblast Council	Building	No. of seats	Seating plan
Cherkasy	Governor of Cherkasy Oblast	Ihor Taburets	Cherkasy Oblast Council		64
Chernihiv	Governor of Chernihiv Oblast	Vyacheslav Chaus	Chernihiv Oblast Council		64
Chernivtsi	Governor of Chernivtsi Oblast	Serhiy Osachuk	Chernivtsi Oblast Council		64
Dnipropetrovsk	Governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast	Valentyn Reznichenko	Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Council		120
Donetsk	Governor of Donetsk Oblast	Pavlo Kyrylenko	Donetsk Oblast Council		163
Ivano-Frankivsk	Governor of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast	Svitlana Onyschuk	Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Council		84
Kharkiv	Governor of Kharkiv Oblast	Oleh Synyehubov	Kharkiv Oblast Council		120
Kherson	Governor of Kherson Oblast	Hennadiy Lahuta^{[nb 2]}	Kherson Oblast Council		64
Khmelnytskyi	Governor of Khmelnytskyi Oblast	Serhiy Hamaliy	Khmelnytskyi Oblast Council		64
Kyiv	Governor of Kyiv Oblast	Oleksiy Kuleba	Kyiv Oblast Council		84
Kirovohrad	Governor of Kirovohrad Oblast	Oleh Synyehubov	Kirovohrad Oblast Council		64
Luhansk	Governor of Luhansk Oblast	Artem Lysohor	Luhansk Oblast Council		124
Lviv	Governor of Lviv Oblast	Maksym Kozytskyy	Lviv Oblast Council		84
Mykolaiv	Governor of Mykolaiv Oblast	Vitaliy Kim	Mykolaiv Oblast Council		64
Odesa	Governor of Odesa Oblast	Maksym Marchenko	Odesa Oblast Council		84
Poltava	Governor of Poltava Oblast	Dmytro Lunin	Poltava Oblast Council		84
Rivne	Governor of Rivne Oblast	Vitaliy Koval	Rivne Oblast Council		64
Sumy	Governor of Sumy Oblast	Dmytro Zhyvytskyi	Sumy Oblast Council		84
Ternopil	Governor of Ternopil Oblast	Volodymyr Trush	Ternopil Oblast Council		64
Vinnytsia	Governor of Vinnytsia Oblast	Serhiy Borzov	Vinnytsia Oblast Council		84
Volyn	Governor of Volyn Oblast	Yuriy Pohuliaiko	Volyn Oblast Council		64
Zakarpattia	Governor of Zakarpattia Oblast	Viktor Mykyta	Zakarpattia Oblast Council		64
Zaporizhzhia	Governor of Zaporizhzhia Oblast	Oleksandr Starukh	Zaporizhzhia Oblast Council		84
Zhytomyr	Governor of Zhytomyr Oblast	Vitaliy Bunechko	Zhytomyr Oblast Council		64

Notes

^ A total of 136 raions exist within the first-level subdivisions of Ukraine, including the 24 oblasts and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
^ The position is disputed. Volodymyr Saldo was appointed Governor on 26 April 2022 by the Russian military following the occupation of Kherson Oblast.^[10]