Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
on the
Dnieper River
}
The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and B ...
, after which its
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian ( uk, украї́нська мо́ва, translit=ukrainska mova, label=native name, ) is an East Slavic language of the Indo-European language family. It is the native language of about 40 million people and the official state langu ...
name (Dnipro) it is named. Dnipro is the
administrative centre
An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located.
In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...
of the
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast ( uk, Дніпропетро́вська о́бласть, translit=Dnipropetrovska oblast), also referred to as Dnipropetrovshchyna ( uk, Дніпропетро́вщина), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, obla ...
. It hosts the administration of Dnipro urban
hromada
A hromada ( uk, територіальна громада, lit=territorial community, translit=terytorialna hromada) is a basic unit of administrative division in Ukraine, similar to a municipality. It was established by the Government of Ukra ...
. The population of Dnipro is
Archeological evidence suggests the site of the present city was settled by Cossack communities from at least 1524. The town, named Yekaterinoslav (''the glory of Catherine''), was established by decree of the Russian Empress
Catherine the Great
, en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes
, house =
, father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst
, mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp
, birth_date =
, birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...
in 1787 as the administrative center of
Novorossiya
Novorossiya, literally "New Russia", is a historical name, used during the era of the Russian Empire for an administrative area that would later become the southern mainland of Ukraine: the region immediately north of the Black Sea and Crimea. ...
. From the end of the nineteenth century, the town attracted foreign capital and an international, multi-ethnic, workforce exploiting
Kryvbas
:''Kryvbas'' ''may also refer to the FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih, the football team in Kryvyi Rih. See also Kryvbas (disambiguation)''
Kryvbas (, full name Kryvorizkyi Iron Ore Basin, ) is an important economic and historical region in central Ukraine ...
iron ore and
Donbas
The Donbas or Donbass (, ; uk, Донба́с ; russian: Донба́сс ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. Parts of the Donbas are controlled by Russian separatist groups as a result of the Russo-Ukrai ...
coal.
Renamed ''Dnipropetrovsk'' in 1926 after the Ukrainian
Communist Party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...
leader
Grigory Petrovsky
Grigory Ivanovich Petrovsky (russian: Григо́рий Ива́нович Петро́вский, uk, Григо́рій Іва́нович Петро́вський, translit=Hryhorii Ivanovych Petrovskyi) (3 February 1878 - 9 January 1958) wa ...
, it became a focus for the Stalin-era commitment to the rapid development of heavy industry. After the Second World War, this included
nuclear
Nuclear may refer to:
Physics
Relating to the nucleus of the atom:
* Nuclear engineering
*Nuclear physics
*Nuclear power
*Nuclear reactor
*Nuclear weapon
*Nuclear medicine
*Radiation therapy
*Nuclear warfare
Mathematics
*Nuclear space
*Nuclear ...
,
arms
Arms or ARMS may refer to:
*Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body
Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to:
People
* Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader
Coat of arms or weapons
*Armaments or weapons
**Fi ...
, and
space
Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...
industries whose strategic importance led to Dnipropetrovsk's designation as a "
closed city
A closed city or closed town is a settlement where travel or residency restrictions are applied so that specific authorization is required to visit or remain overnight. Such places may be sensitive military establishments or secret research ins ...
".
Following the
Euromaidan
Euromaidan (; uk, Євромайдан, translit=Yevromaidan, lit=Euro Square, ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protes ...
events of 2014, the city shifted politically away from parties and political figures supportive of continued close ties to Russia, and toward those wishing to celebrate the achievement in 1991 of Ukrainian national statehood and to develop relations with the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
and the West. The change has been reflected by the removal of
Soviet-era
The history of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union (USSR) reflects a period of change for both Russia and the world. Though the terms "Soviet Russia" and "Soviet Union" often are synonymous in everyday speech (either acknowledging the dominance ...
symbols including, from May 2016, "Petrovsk" from the name of city.
Following the
Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
in February 2022, Dnipro rapidly developed as a logistical hub for humanitarian aid and a reception point for people fleeing the various battle fronts.
Names
Current names (2016-present):
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
: Дніпро ,
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
: Днепр
Former names (1926-2016)
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
: Дніпропетро́вськ ,
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
city on the territory of modern Dnipro was New Kodak.New Kodak (26 March 2022) Also on the territory of Modern Dnipro, the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
founded Yekaterinoslav (''the glory of Catherine''). This name was first mentioned in a report to Azov Governor to
Grigory Potemkin
Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tauricheski (, also , ;, rus, Князь Григо́рий Алекса́ндрович Потёмкин-Таври́ческий, Knjaz' Grigórij Aleksándrovich Potjómkin-Tavrícheskij, ɡrʲɪˈɡ ...
on 23 April 1776. He wrote "The provincial city called Yekaterinoslav should be the best convenience on the right side of the
Dnieper River
}
The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and B ...
near Kaydak..." (Which referred to ). The construction was officially transferred to the right bank in a decree of
Empress of Russia
The emperor or empress of all the Russias or All Russia, ''Imperator Vserossiyskiy'', ''Imperatritsa Vserossiyskaya'' (often titled Tsar or Tsarina/Tsaritsa) was the monarch of the Russian Empire.
The title originated in connection with Russia' ...
Catherine II
, en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes
, house =
, father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst
, mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp
, birth_date =
, birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anha ...
of 23 January 1784.
Over time, Dnipro has been known by a number of names:
*New Kodak 1645–1784
*Yekaterinoslav ( rus, Екатериносла́в, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnɐˈsɫaf}, uk, Катеринослав, Katerynoslav , sometimes romanized as Ekaterinoslav) 1784–1796
*Novorossiysk 1796–1802, briefly renamed during the reign of Catherine II's hated son, tsar
Paul I Paul I may refer to:
*Paul of Samosata (200–275), Bishop of Antioch
*Paul I of Constantinople (died c. 350), Archbishop of Constantinople
*Pope Paul I (700–767)
*Paul I Šubić of Bribir (c. 1245–1312), Ban of Croatia and Lord of Bosnia
*Paul ...
; however, the previous name was restored by tsar
Alexander I Alexander I may refer to:
* Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon 495–454 BC
* Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus
* Pope Alexander I (died 115), early bishop of Rome
* Pope Alexander I of Alexandria (died 320s), patriarch of ...
after he had his father assassinated
*Yekaterinoslav 1802–1918
*Sicheslav ( uk, Січеслав) 1918–1921 (unofficial name)
*Yekaterinoslav / Katerynoslav 1918–1926
*Dnepropetrovsk ( rus, Днепропетровск, p=dʲnʲɪprəpʲɪˈtrofsk)) /
Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...
( uk, Дніпропетро́вськ} , also Dnipropetrovske according to the
Kharkiv orthography
The Ukrainian alphabet ( uk, абе́тка, áзбука алфа́ві́т, abetka, azbuka alfavit) is the set of letters used to write Ukrainian, which is the official language of Ukraine. It is one of several national variations of the C ...
1926–2016. The word originates from
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
Дніпропетро́вськ, from Дніпро́ (Dnipró, "
Dnipro river
}
The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and B ...
") + Петро́вський (Petróvsʹkyj), after Soviet revolutionary .
*Dnipro 2016–present
The spelling Catharinoslav was found on some maps of the nineteenth century.
In some
Anglophone
Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the ''Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest language ...
media the city was known as the Rocket City during the Cold War.
In 1918, the
Central Council of Ukraine
The Central Council of Ukraine ( uk, Українська Центральна Рада, ) (also called the Tsentralna Rada or the Central Rada) was the All-Ukrainian council (soviet) that united deputies of soldiers, workers, and peasants deputie ...
proposed to change the name of the city to ''Sicheslav''; however, this was never finalised.
In 1926 the city was renamed after
communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
leader
Grigory Petrovsky
Grigory Ivanovich Petrovsky (russian: Григо́рий Ива́нович Петро́вский, uk, Григо́рій Іва́нович Петро́вський, translit=Hryhorii Ivanovych Petrovskyi) (3 February 1878 - 9 January 1958) wa ...
Ukrayinska Pravda
''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukraini ...
Interfax-Ukraine
The Interfax-Ukraine ( uk, Інтерфакс-Україна) is a Kyiv-based Ukraine, Ukrainian independent news agency founded in 1992. The company does not belong to the Russian news corporation Interfax Information Services. The company pub ...
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...
(14 April 2015) The 2015 law on decommunization required the city to be renamed, and on 19 May 2016 the Ukrainian parliament passed a bill to officially rename the city to ''Dnipro''..
Following the renaming of the city the reference to Petrovsky has been removed from institutions named after the city. A notable exception is the name of the surrounding province, which is listed in the territorial structure of Ukraine in the Constitution. Thus until a lengthy and complicated process of amending is carried out, it officially retains the name
Dnipropetrovska oblast
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast ( uk, Дніпропетро́вська о́бласть, translit=Dnipropetrovska oblast), also referred to as Dnipropetrovshchyna ( uk, Дніпропетро́вщина), is an oblast (province) of central-eastern Ukra ...
.
Among other names it was also known as Polovytsia.
Disputed year of foundation
Scholarship concerning the foundation of the city has been subject to political considerations and dispute. In 1976, to have the bicentenary of the city coincide with the 70th anniversary of the birth of Soviet party leader, and regional native son,
Leonid Brezhnev
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev; uk, links= no, Леонід Ілліч Брежнєв, . (19 December 1906– 10 November 1982) was a Soviet Union, Soviet politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Gener ...
, the date of the city's foundation was moved back from the visit Russian Empress Catherine II in 1787, to 1776.Riding the currents
The Ukrainian Week
''The Ukrainian Week'' ( uk, Український Тиждень, translit=Ukrainskyi Tyzhden) is an illustrated weekly magazine covering politics, economics and the arts and aimed at the socially engaged Ukrainian-language reader. It provides ...
(18 August 2017)
Following Ukrainian independence, local historians began to promote the idea of a town emerging in the 17th century from Cossack settlements, an approach aimed at promoting the city's Ukrainian identity.Portnov, Andrii and Tetiana Portnova (2015) "The 'Imperial' and the 'Cossack' in the Semiotics of Ekaterinoslav-Dnipropetrovsk:The Controversies of the Foundation Myth" in Urban Semiotics: The City as a Cultural Historical Phenomenon, Igo Pilshchikov ed., Tallinin, TLU Press, pp. 223–245, ISBN 9789985588079 They cited the chronicler of the
Zaporozhian Cossacks
The Zaporozhian Cossacks, Zaporozhian Cossack Army, Zaporozhian Host, (, or uk, Військо Запорізьке, translit=Viisko Zaporizke, translit-std=ungegn, label=none) or simply Zaporozhians ( uk, Запорожці, translit=Zaporoz ...
,
Dmytro Yavornytsky
Dmytro Ivanovych Yavornytsky ( uk, Дмитро́ Іва́нович Яворни́цький), or Dmitry Ivanovich Yavornitsky (also known as ''Dmitry Evarnitsky'', russian: Дмитрий Иванович Яворницкий; November 6, 1855, ...
, whose ''History of the City of Ekaterinoslav'' completed in 1940 was authorised for publication only in 1989, the era of
Glasnost
''Glasnost'' (; russian: link=no, гласность, ) has several general and specific meanings – a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information, the inadmissibility of hushing up problems, ...
.''"Літописець Запорозької Січі – Минуло 150 років від дня народження Дмитра Яворницького", Ukraina Moloda, November 2011'',
History
Early history
Human settlements in current
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast ( uk, Дніпропетро́вська о́бласть, translit=Dnipropetrovska oblast), also referred to as Dnipropetrovshchyna ( uk, Дніпропетро́вщина), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, obla ...
date from the
Paleolithic
The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...
era. According to archeological finds, in the Paleolithic period (7—3 thousand ''
Anno Domini
The terms (AD) and before Christ (BC) are used to label or number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term is Medieval Latin and means 'in the year of the Lord', but is often presented using "our Lord" instead of "the Lord", ...
'') human settlements appear near the in what is now
Chechelivskyi District
Chechelivskyi District () is an urban district of the city of Dnipro, in southern Ukraine. It is located in the city's center on the southwestern outskirts and the right-bank of the Dnieper River.
History
According to archeological finds, in the ...
and on
Monastyrskyi Island Monastyrskyi Island ( uk, Монастирський острів) is an island within the boundaries of the Sobornyi district of the Ukrainian city of Dnipro near the right bank of the Dnipro river.
It is covered with granite rocks to the west wh ...
. A
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
stonecrafter's house has been excavated in one of Dnipro's city parks. In the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
the area was settled by diverse tribes. Traces of
Cimmerian
The Cimmerians (Akkadian: , romanized: ; Hebrew: , romanized: ; Ancient Greek: , romanized: ; Latin: ) were an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people originating in the Caspian steppe, part of whom subsequently migrated into West Asi ...
settlements during the Bronze age have been found near today's . The area of modern Dnipro was part of the Scythian empire from approximately the 1th century BC until the 3rd century BC. During the
Migration Period
The Migration Period was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories by various tribes, and the establishment of the post-Roman ...
(300–800) nomadic tribes of the
Huns
The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part ...
Bulgarians
Bulgarians ( bg, българи, Bǎlgari, ) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and the rest of Southeast Europe.
Etymology
Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from the Bulgars. Their name is not completely understo ...
, and
Magyars
Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Uralic ...
passed through the lands of the
Dnieper
}
The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and B ...
region, they came into contact with local agricultural
East Slavs
The East Slavs are the most populous subgroup of the Slavs. They speak the East Slavic languages, and formed the majority of the population of the medieval state Kievan Rus', which they claim as their cultural ancestor.John Channon & Robert H ...
.
The area of modern Dnipro was part of
Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas of ...
(882–1240). The region witnessed fighting between the armies of Kievan Rus' and
Khazars
The Khazars ; he, כּוּזָרִים, Kūzārīm; la, Gazari, or ; zh, 突厥曷薩 ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a semi-nomadic Turkic people that in the late 6th-century CE established a major commercial empire coverin ...
,
Pechenegs
The Pechenegs () or Patzinaks tr, Peçenek(ler), Middle Turkic: , ro, Pecenegi, russian: Печенег(и), uk, Печеніг(и), hu, Besenyő(k), gr, Πατζινάκοι, Πετσενέγοι, Πατζινακίται, ka, პა ...
Cumans
The Cumans (or Kumans), also known as Polovtsians or Polovtsy (plural only, from the Russian language, Russian Exonym and endonym, exonym ), were a Turkic people, Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confede ...
. In the
13th century
The 13th century was the century which lasted from January 1, 1201 ( MCCI) through December 31, 1300 ( MCCC) in accordance with the Julian calendar.
The Mongol Empire was founded by Genghis Khan, which stretched from Eastern Asia to Eastern Eu ...
the Dnieper region was devastated during the
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries was the largest contiguous land empire in history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Europe, ...
khanate
A khaganate or khanate was a polity ruled by a khan, khagan, khatun, or khanum. That political territory was typically found on the Eurasian Steppe and could be equivalent in status to tribal chiefdom, principality, kingdom or empire.
Mong ...
Golden Horde
The Golden Horde, self-designated as Ulug Ulus, 'Great State' in Turkic, was originally a Mongols, Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the fr ...
.
In the 15th century the area became part of the
Kiev Voivodeship
The Kiev Voivodeship ( pl, województwo kijowskie, la, Palatinatus Kioviensis, uk, Київське воєводство, ''Kyjivśke vojevodstvo'') was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...
(1471–1565) of the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi-confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Crown of the Kingdom of ...
. Archeological finds in today's Dnipro's urban district
Samarskyi District
Samarskyi District ( uk, Самарський район) is an urban district of the city of Dnipro, in southern Ukraine. It is located at the confluence of the Dnieper and Samara rivers in the eastern and southeastern parts of the city.
History ...
suggest that the important river crossing was a trading settlement from at least 1524. In 1635, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth built the
Kodak Fortress
Kodak fortress ( uk, Кодак; pl, Kudak) was a fort built in 1635 by the order of the Polish king Władysław IV Vasa and the Sejm on the Dnieper River near what would become the town of Stari Kodaky (now near the city of Dnipro in Ukraine) ...
above the
Dnieper Rapids
The Dnieper Rapids ( uk, Дніпрові пороги, ) are the historical rapids on the Dnieper river in Ukraine, composed of outcrops of granites, gneisses and other types of bedrock of the Ukrainian Shield. The rapids began below the present ...
at ''Kodaky'' on the south-eastern outskirts of modern Dnipro near the current
Kaidatsky Bridge
Kaidatsky Bridge ( uk, Кайдацький міст) Kaidaky Bridge is a bridge over Dnieper in the city of Dnipro, Ukraine. The bridge connects right (Novokodatskyi District) and left (Amur-Nyzhnodniprovskyi District) banks of Dnipro and is part ...
Ivan Sulyma
Ivan Sulyma ( pl, Iwan Sulima, uk, Іван Михайлович Сулима – ''Ivan Mykhailovych Sulyma'') was a Senior of Registered Cossacks in 1628–29 and a Kosh Otaman in 1630–35.
Life and death
Son of Mykhailo Sulyma, Ivan came fr ...
.Plokhy, Serhii, ''The Cossacks and Religion in Early Modern Ukraine'', pub Oxford University Press, 2001, , pages 26, 37, 40, 51, 60–1, 142, 245, and 268. Rebuilt in 1645, it was captured by
Zaporozhian Sich
The Zaporozhian Sich ( ua, Запорозька Січ, ; also uk, Вольностi Вiйська Запорозького Низового, ; Free lands of the Zaporozhian Host the Lower) was a semi-autonomous polity and proto-state of Cos ...
in 1648.
Around the fortress a settlement emerged that became a town in (province) of the Zaporizhian Sich called . Cossacks often hid the true number of the population in order to reduce taxation and other obligations, but according to documentary evidence, it can be assumed that the population of New Kodak was at least 3,000 people. The fortress was garrisoned by Cossacks until the Sich, allied with the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
Tsardom of Russia
The Tsardom of Russia or Tsardom of Rus' also externally referenced as the Tsardom of Muscovy, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of Tsar by Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter I i ...
. Under the terms of the Russian withdrawal—the
Treaty of the Pruth
The Treaty of the Pruth was signed on the banks of the river Prut between the Ottoman Empire and the Tsardom of Russia on 23 July 1711 ending the Russo-Turkish War of 1710–1711. The treaty was a political victory for the Ottoman Empire.
The ...
in 1711—the Kodak fortress was demolished.day.kyiv.ua ''Above Kodak, this year the unique fortress marks its 375th anniversary'' by Mykola Chaban, 2010.
In the mid-1730s, the fortress and Russians returned, living in an uneasy cohabitation with local cossacks. From mid-century they co-existed with the Zaporozhian
sloboda
A sloboda ( rus, слобода́, p=sləbɐˈda) was a kind of settlement in the history of the Old Russian regions Povolzhye, Central Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. The name is derived from the early Slavic word for "freedom" and may be loosely ...
(or "free settlement") of ''Polovytsia'' located on the site of today's Central Terminal and the ''Ozyorka'' farmers market.Establishment and development of the Dnipropetrovsk city (Виникнення і розвиток міста Дніпропетровськ)
The History of Cities and Villages of the Ukrainian SSR
''The History of Cities and Villages of the Ukrainian SSR'' ( uk, Історія міст і сіл Української РСР) is a Ukrainian encyclopedia, published in 26 volumes. It provides knowledge about the history of all populated places ...
.
In the
Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774)
The Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774 was a major armed conflict that saw Russian arms largely victorious against the Ottoman Empire. Russia's victory brought parts of Moldavia, the Yedisan between the rivers Bug and Dnieper, and Crimea into the ...
, the Zaporozhian cossacks allied with
Empress Catherine II
, en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes
, house =
, father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst
, mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp
, birth_date =
, birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...
. No sooner had they assisted the Russians to victory than they faced an imperial ultimatum to disband their confederation. The liquidation of the Sich destroyed their political autonomy and saw the incorporation of their lands into the new governates of
Novorossiya
Novorossiya, literally "New Russia", is a historical name, used during the era of the Russian Empire for an administrative area that would later become the southern mainland of Ukraine: the region immediately north of the Black Sea and Crimea. ...
. In 1784, Catherine ordered the foundation of new city, commonly referred to at the time as Katerynoslav.
In 2001 the seal of Kodak Palanka became the central element of and .
Imperial city
Establishment of Catherine's city
The first written mention of a town in the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
called Yekaterinoslav can be found in a report from Azov Governor to
Grigory Potemkin
Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tauricheski (, also , ;, rus, Князь Григо́рий Алекса́ндрович Потёмкин-Таври́ческий, Knjaz' Grigórij Aleksándrovich Potjómkin-Tavrícheskij, ɡrʲɪˈɡ ...
on 23 April 1776. He wrote "The provincial city called Yekaterinoslav should be the best convenience on the right side of the
Dnieper River
}
The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and B ...
near Kaydak..." (Which referred to ). In 1777, a town named Yekaterinoslav (''the glory of Catherine''), was built to the north of the present-day city at the confluence of the
Samara
Samara ( rus, Сама́ра, p=sɐˈmarə), known from 1935 to 1991 as Kuybyshev (; ), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with ...
and Kilchen rivers. The site was badly chosen – spring waters transformed the city into a bog. The surviving settlement was later renamed Novomoskovsk.S. S. Montefiore: Prince of Princes – The Life of Potemkin
The territory of modern Dnipro, despite the modern-day city's size, still has not expanded to encompass the territory of (Chertkov's) Yekaterinoslav of 1776. On 22 January 1784 Russian Empress
Catherine the Great
, en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes
, house =
, father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst
, mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp
, birth_date =
, birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...
signed an Imperial Ukase directing that "the gubernatorial city under name of Yekaterinoslav be moved to the right bank of the
Dnieper
}
The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and B ...
river near Kodak". The new city would serve
Grigory Potemkin
Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tauricheski (, also , ;, rus, Князь Григо́рий Алекса́ндрович Потёмкин-Таври́ческий, Knjaz' Grigórij Aleksándrovich Potjómkin-Tavrícheskij, ɡrʲɪˈɡ ...
Emperor Joseph II
Joseph II (German: Josef Benedikt Anton Michael Adam; English: ''Joseph Benedict Anthony Michael Adam''; 13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg lands from November 29, 1780 un ...
,
Polish king
Poland was ruled at various times either by dukes and princes (10th to 14th centuries) or by kings (11th to 18th centuries). During the latter period, a tradition of free election of monarchs made it a uniquely electable position in Europe (16t ...
Stanisław August Poniatowski
Stanisław II August (born Stanisław Antoni Poniatowski; 17 January 1732 – 12 February 1798), known also by his regnal Latin name Stanislaus II Augustus, was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1764 to 1795, and the last monarch ...
, and the French and English ambassadors. Potemkin's grandiose plans for a third Russian imperial capital alongside Moscow and Saint Petersburg included a viceregal palace, a university (Potemkin envisioned Yekaterinoslav as the '
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
of southern Russia'), courts of law and a botanical garden, were frustrated by a renewal of the
Russo-Turkish war
The Russo-Turkish wars (or Ottoman–Russian wars) were a series of twelve wars fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 20th centuries. It was one of the longest series of military conflicts in European histor ...
he Empress
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
and her favorite, Prince Grigorii Potemkin, the city's first governor-general and the de facto viceroy of southern Russia, had big plans for Ekaterinoslav. Potemkin envisioned Ekaterinoslav as the 'Athens of southern Russia' and as Russia's third capital – 'the centre of the administrative, economic, and cultural life of southern Russia.'"
In 1815 a government official described the town as "more like some Dutch colony">ennonitecolony then a provincial administrative centre". The cathedral, much reduced in size, was completed in 1835.
Growth as an industrial centre
While into the late nineteenth the principal business of the town remained the processing of agricultural raw materials, there was an early state-sponsored effort to promote manufacture. In 1794 the government supported two factories: a textile factory that was transferred from the town of Dubrovny
Mogilev Governorate
The Mogilev Governorate () or Government of Mogilev was a governorate () of the Russian Empire in the territory of the present day Belarus. Its capital was in Mogilev, referred to as Mogilev-on-the-Dnieper, or Mogilev Gubernskiy.
The area of the ...
and a silk-stockings factory that was brought from the village of Kupavna near Moscow. In 1797 the textile factory employed 819 permanent workers, 378 of whom were women and 115 children. The silk stocking workers, the majority being women, were serfs bought at an auction for 16,000 rubles. Conditions, as Potemkin himself was forced to admit, were harsh, with many of the workers dying from malnutrition and exhaustion.
From 1797 to 1802, while serving under the Emperor
Paul I Paul I may refer to:
*Paul of Samosata (200–275), Bishop of Antioch
*Paul I of Constantinople (died c. 350), Archbishop of Constantinople
*Pope Paul I (700–767)
*Paul I Šubić of Bribir (c. 1245–1312), Ban of Croatia and Lord of Bosnia
*Paul ...
as the administrative centre of a centre of the
Novorossiya Governorate
Novorossiya Governorate (russian: Новороссийская губерния, Novorossiyskaya guberniya, New Russia Governorate; uk, Новоросійська губернія), was a governorate of the Russian Empire in the previously O ...
, the settlement was officially known as ''Novorossiysk.''
Despite the bridging of the Dnieper in 1796 and commerce was slow to develop. 1832 saw the establishment of the small Zaslavsky iron-casting factory, the town's first metallurgical enterprise. Industrialisation gathered a pace in the 1880s with the establishment of the first railway connections. Rail construction responded to the enterprise of two men: John Hughes, a
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
businessman who built an iron works at what is now
Donetsk
Donetsk ( , ; uk, Донецьк, translit=Donets'k ; russian: Донецк ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin and Stalino (see also: Names of European cities in different languages (C–D), cities' alternat ...
(then Yuzovka) in 1869–72, and developed the Donetsk coal deposits; and the Russian geologist
Alexander Pol
Alexander Nikolayevich Pol (russian: Александр Николаевич Поль; 20 August 1832 – 26 July 1890) was a Russian archaeologist, geologist, ethnographer and businessman of Baltic German descent. He is most well-known for discov ...
, who in 1866 had discovered the
Kryvyi Rih
Kryvyi Rih ( uk, Криви́й Ріг , lit. "Curved Bend" or "Crooked Horn"), also known as Krivoy Rog (Russian: Кривой Рог) is the largest city in central Ukraine, the 7th most populous city in Ukraine and the 2nd largest by area. Kr ...
iron ore basin,
Kryvbas
:''Kryvbas'' ''may also refer to the FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih, the football team in Kryvyi Rih. See also Kryvbas (disambiguation)''
Kryvbas (, full name Kryvorizkyi Iron Ore Basin, ) is an important economic and historical region in central Ukraine ...
, during archaeological research.
In 1884, a railway to supply
pig iron
Pig iron, also known as crude iron, is an intermediate product of the iron industry in the production of steel which is obtained by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron has a high carbon content, typically 3.8–4.7%, along with silic ...
foundries in Kryvyi Rih with Donetsk coal crossed the Dnieper at Yekaterinoslav. It proved a spur to further industrial development and to the creation of the new suburbs of Amur and Nyzhnodniprovsk.
In 1897, Yekaterinoslav became the third city in the Russian Empire to have electric trams. The ''Yekaterinoslav Higher Mining School'', today's
Dnipro Polytechnic
The Dnipro University of Technology ( uk, Національний технічний університет «Дніпровська політехніка»), abbreviated in Ukrainian as NTU DP ( uk, НТУ ДП) is located in Dnipro, the third ...
, was founded in 1899.Message of Greeting from Rector , University official website Within twenty years the population had more than tripled, reaching 157,000 in 1904. The immigrants flowing into the city were mainly ethnic or cultural Russians and
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
industrial revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
.
The Jewish community and the 1905 pogrom
From 1792 Yekaterinoslav was within the
Pale of Settlement
The Pale of Settlement (russian: Черта́ осе́длости, '; yi, דער תּחום-המושבֿ, '; he, תְּחוּם הַמּוֹשָב, ') was a western region of the Russian Empire with varying borders that existed from 1791 to 19 ...
, the former Polish-Lithuanian territories in which Catherine and her successors enforced no limitation on the movement and residency of their Jewish subjects. Within less than a century, a largely
Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
-speaking Jewish community of 40,000 constituted more than a third of the city's population, and contributed a considerable share of its business capital and industrial workforce.
Such apparent strength did not protect the community—members of whom had had the unpopular task of collecting government taxes and recruiting young men for the army— from communal violence. In 1883, three days of rioting destroyed Jewish business, and persuaded many to temporarily leave the city. There was a return of anti–Semitic incitement among the Christian public in 1904, but attacks on community were, at that time, suppressed on the order of a liberal governor.
In the widespread social unrest that followed the 1905 defeat in the
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...
, the political life of the city was dominated by the revolutionary opposition (including the Jewish Workers Socialist Party and the Bund) and by the insurrectionary spirit of the nascent labor movement. The local czarist authorities were able to ride out the wave political protests and strikes, in part by playing on division between Jewish workers who predominated as clerks and artisans in the city, and Russian workers employed in the large suburban factories. There was a wave of anti-Semitic attacks. With the army intervening against Jewish defense groups, about 100 Jews were killed and two hundred wounded.
According to local historian
Andrii Portnov
Andrii Portnov (in , in , in pl, Andrij Portnow; born 17 May 1979 in Dnipropetrovsk (now Dnipro), Ukrainian SSR) is a Ukrainian historian, essayist, and editor. He is the Chair Professor of Entangled History of Ukraine at the European University ...
, 40% of the local Yekaterinoslav population was Jewish in the years leading up to
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
The Ukrainian Week
''The Ukrainian Week'' ( uk, Український Тиждень, translit=Ukrainskyi Tyzhden) is an illustrated weekly magazine covering politics, economics and the arts and aimed at the socially engaged Ukrainian-language reader. It provides ...
(8 May 2014)
The Soviet era
War and revolution
Directly following the Russian
February revolution
The February Revolution ( rus, Февра́льская револю́ция, r=Fevral'skaya revolyutsiya, p=fʲɪvˈralʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and somet ...
, in the night of 3 March O.S (16 March N.S) to 4 March 1917 a provisional government was organised in Yekaterinoslav headed by the (since 1913) chairman of the provincial land administration . Also on 4 March a Council of Workers' Deputies was formed. On 6 March the
prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
of the
Russian Provisional Government
The Russian Provisional Government ( rus, Временное правительство России, Vremennoye pravitel'stvo Rossii) was a provisional government of the Russian Republic, announced two days before and established immediately ...
Georgy Lvov
Prince Georgy Yevgenyevich Lvov (7/8 March 1925) was a Russian aristocrat and statesman who served as the first prime minister of republican Russia from 15 March to 20 July 1917. During this time he served as Russia's ''de facto'' head of stat ...
removed the governor and the vice-governor of
Yekaterinoslav Governorate
The Yekaterinoslav Governorate (russian: Екатеринославская губерния, Yekaterinoslavskaya guberniya; uk, Катеринославська губернія, translit=Katerynoslavska huberniia) or Government of Yekaterinos ...
, temporarily handing these powers to Hesberg. On 9 March a Yekaterinoslav Council of Workers and Soldiers deputies was formed.
On 16 May the Council of Workers' Deputies and the Council of Workers and Soldiers merged, to become named the Revolutionary Council in November 1917. All these power structures existed in duality, with Hesberg's provisional government often being in a disadvantage. In 1917 the city saw numerous meetings, rallies, meetings, conferences, congresses and demonstrations by political parties all over the political spectrum. Due to intense political agitation the newly formed factory committees and professional unions by autumn of 1917 mainly supported the
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
s, significantly strengthening their positions.
In June 1917 a Central Council (
Tsentralna Rada
The Central Council of Ukraine ( uk, Українська Центральна Рада, ) (also called the Tsentralna Rada or the Central Rada) was the All-Ukrainian council (soviet) that united deputies of soldiers, workers, and peasants deputie ...
) of Ukrainian parties in
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
declared Yekaterinoslav to be within the territory of the autonomous
Ukrainian People's Republic
The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR), or Ukrainian National Republic (UNR), was a country in Eastern Europe that existed between 1917 and 1920. It was declared following the February Revolution in Russia by the First Universal. In March 1 ...
. On 13 August 1917 the first democratic Yekaterinoslav 120 seats city Duma election took place. The Bolsheviks gained 24 seats and the
Mensheviks
The Mensheviks (russian: меньшевики́, from меньшинство 'minority') were one of the three dominant factions in the Russian socialist movement, the others being the Bolsheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries.
The factions eme ...
16, with pro-Ukrainian parties picking up 6 seats. was elected Mayor of the city. Osipov was Mayor until the dissolution of the city Duma in May 1918. On 10 November 1917 a parade of Ukrainian troops was held, organized by the Yekaterinoslav Ukrainian Military Council in support of the
Third Universal of the Ukrainian Central Council
The Third Universal of the Ukrainian Central Council ( uk, Третіій Універсал Української Центральної Ради, translit=Tretii Universal Ukrainskoi Tsentralnoi Rady) is a state-political act, universal of the ...
, the proclamation of the Ukrainian People's Republic.
In the November 1917 elections to the
Russian Constituent Assembly
The All Russian Constituent Assembly (Всероссийское Учредительное собрание, Vserossiyskoye Uchreditelnoye sobraniye) was a constituent assembly convened in Russia after the October Revolution of 1917. It met fo ...
, the Bolsheviks secured just under 18 percent of the vote in the Governorate, compared to 46 percent for the Ukrainian Socialist Revolutionaries and their allies. On 22 November 1917 the Revolutionary Council and the city Duma pledged their allegiance to the Tsentralna Rada. The Bolsheviks then left these organisations. During December, the situation in the city worsened with both sides preparing for military action.
On 26 December pro-Tsentralna Rada forces presented to the Bolsheviks an ultimatum to completely disarm. The Bolsheviks rejected the ultimatum. The following day the pro-Tsentralna Rada forces began artillery shelling of the Yekaterinoslav's Bryansk plant, where the headquarters of the Bolsheviks and its main forces were located. The shells hit a barracks holding
Austro-Hungarian army
The Austro-Hungarian Army (, literally "Ground Forces of the Austro-Hungarians"; , literally "Imperial and Royal Army") was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint arm ...
prisoners of war, who worked at the plant, killing six and wounding 28. Fighting continued until 29 December 1917, when the Bolsheviks seized power in Yekaterinoslav, greatly helped by the arrival of an
armored train
An armoured train is a railway train protected with armour. Armoured trains usually include railway wagons armed with artillery, machine guns and autocannons. Some also had slits used to fire small arms from the inside of the train, a facilit ...
with troops the previous day. The Bolsheviks were able to keep it under their control until 4 April 1918. The Bolsheviks declared the city part of a Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic.
In the March 1918
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (also known as the Treaty of Brest in Russia) was a separate peace, separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Russian SFSR, Russia and the Central Powers (German Empire, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Kingdom of ...
the Bolsheviks conceded their Ukrainian held territory. In the aftermath of this treaty the
Central Powers
The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,german: Mittelmächte; hu, Központi hatalmak; tr, İttifak Devletleri / ; bg, Централни сили, translit=Tsentralni sili was one of the two main coalitions that fought in ...
Imperial German army
The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (german: Deutsches Heer), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the l ...
took control of Yekaterinoslav. 500 Bolshevik
Red Guards
Red Guards () were a mass student-led paramilitary social movement mobilized and guided by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 through 1967, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a Red Guard lead ...
were publicly executed. Repression against workers continued in the following days.
From 9 April to 29 April 1918 the
Ukrainian People's Republic
The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR), or Ukrainian National Republic (UNR), was a country in Eastern Europe that existed between 1917 and 1920. It was declared following the February Revolution in Russia by the First Universal. In March 1 ...
was in charge in the city. After a Central Powers intervention on 29 April 1918 the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
-controlled
Ukrainian State
The Ukrainian State ( uk, Українська Держава, translit=Ukrainska Derzhava), sometimes also called the Second Hetmanate ( uk, Другий Гетьманат, translit=Druhyi Hetmanat, link=no), was an anti-Bolshevik government ...
replaced the Ukrainian People's Republic authority (also in Yekaterinoslav).
On 18 May 1918 the
Hetman
( uk, гетьман, translit=het'man) is a political title from Central and Eastern Europe, historically assigned to military commanders.
Used by the Czechs in Bohemia since the 15th century. It was the title of the second-highest military co ...
of the Ukrainian State
Pavlo Skoropadskyi
Pavlo Petrovych Skoropadskyi ( uk, Павло Петрович Скоропадський, Pavlo Petrovych Skoropadskyi; – 26 April 1945) was a Ukrainian aristocrat, military and state leader, decorated Imperial Russian Army and Ukrainian Army ...
ordered that previous nationalized enterprises should be returned to their former owners. On 18 August the Ukrainian State dissolved the city Duma elected in 1917 and replaced it with the one installed in 1914. In the summer of 1918 Yekaterinoslav experienced mass unemployment and major strikes. The forming of organized labour groups was suppressed. Austro-Hungarian troops that occupied the city tried to forcefully end the strikes.
In the fall of 1918 the Ukrainian State was deteriorating and its grip on Yekaterinoslav consequently weakened. In November and December the Bolsheviks tried to gain control of the city through various strikes but were unable to do so because of lack of support of more moderate forces. In November various parts of the city were controlled by either the Bolsheviks, the
Directorate
Directorate may refer to:
Contemporary
*Directorates of the Scottish Government
* Directorate-General, a type of specialised administrative body in the European Union
* Directorate-General for External Security, the French external intelligence ag ...
of the Ukrainian People's Republic, German and Austro-Hungarian occupation forces or forces loyal to the White movement.
On 5 December forces loyal to the Directorate issued an ultimatum to the Germans to leave the city. After another ultimatum on 19 December and four days of
urban warfare
Urban warfare is combat conducted in urban areas such as towns and cities. Urban combat differs from combat in the open at both the operational and the tactical levels. Complicating factors in urban warfare include the presence of civilians and t ...
German and Austro-Hungarian occupation forces left the city on 23 December 1918. From 20 November to 30 December 1918 Yekaterinoslav was controlled by the Directorate of the Ukrainian People's Republic.
On 25 December 1918, Directorate forces launched an open offensive against the Bolsheviks and forced them to retreat. On 26 December the Bolsheviks formed an alliance with the anarchist Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine (the ''Makhnovshchina)'' to regain control of Yekaterinoslav. On 27 December the Makhnovshchina with a force of 600 insurgents took control of the city on behalf of the Bolsheviks, after four days of fighting to clear out the remaining forces loyal to the Ukrainian People's Republic. Because the Makhnovshchina held control of the city, the Bolsheviks abandoned their military positions and this allowed the Ukrainian People's Republic to gain control of the city. Many Makhnovshchina soldiers died. From 1 January until 26 January 1919 the Ukrainian People's Republic was able to keep the city under their control.
On 24 January 1919 Bolshevik
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
troops commanded by
Pavel Dybenko
Pavel Efimovich Dybenko (russian: Павел Ефимович Дыбенко), (February 16, 1889 – July 29, 1938) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a leading Soviet officer and military commander.
Prior to military service
Pavel Dybenko was b ...
launched an offensive to capture Yekaterinoslav. Despite stubborn resistance of troops loyal to the Ukrainian People's Republic, on 27 January 1919 the city was in full control of the Red Army. (page 77) On 11 May 1919 troops loyal to
Nykyfor Hryhoriv
Nykyfor Oleksandrovych Hryhoriv (né Nychypir Servetnyk, 1884 – 27 July 1919) was a Ukrainian paramilitary leader noted for repeatedly switching sides during the Ukrainian Civil War. He was commonly known as "Otaman Hryhoriv." In some historic ...
, as part of the
Hryhoriv Uprising
The uprising of Nykyfor Hryhoriv was an armed protest against the Bolshevik rule in Ukraine in May 1919, which covered the area between Mykolaiv and Kherson, Katerynoslav, Cherkasy, Kremenchuk and Kryvyi Rih. Its leader was otaman Nykyfor Hryhori ...
, captured large parts of Yekaterinoslav. On 15 May Bolshevik troops had fully cleared the city of Hryhoriv's troops.
On 10 June 1919, after the anti-Bolshevik White movement
Armed Forces of South Russia
The Armed Forces of South Russia (AFSR or SRAF) () were the unified military forces of the White movement in southern Russia between 1919 and 1920.
On 8 January 1919, the Armed Forces of South Russia were formed, incorporating the Volunteer Army ...
Donbas
The Donbas or Donbass (, ; uk, Донба́с ; russian: Донба́сс ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. Parts of the Donbas are controlled by Russian separatist groups as a result of the Russo-Ukrai ...
region located next to the city, the Bolsheviks decided to turn Yekaterinoslav into a fortified area. Despite this and fierce resistance, the Armed Forces of South Russia took control the city on 28 June 1919. The following days looting in the city became chronic. The Bolshevik
Crimean Soviet Army
The Crimean Soviet Army was a field army of the Red Army during the Russian Civil War, which existed between May 5, 1919 and July 21, 1919. It was first part of the Ukrainian Front and from June 4 of the 14th Army.
On July 21, 1919 the Army was ...
, using a small
flotilla
A flotilla (from Spanish, meaning a small ''flota'' (fleet) of ships), or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet.
Composition
A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same class ...
on the
Dnieper
}
The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and B ...
river, was briefly able to retake the city on 14 July 1919. In August 1919 the city was in an acute food crisis due to a peasant insurgency against the White movement policies. Twice, from 28 October to 6 November 1919 and from 9 November to 8 December 1919, Yekaterinoslav was captured by the Makhnovshchina.
On 29 December 1919 the Red Army again tried to control the city, and on 30 December 1919 they reestablished their control of Yekaterinoslav. On 20 September 1920 the Bolsheviks partly evacuated from the city due to it being threatened by the White movement
South Russia South Russia may refer:
* Southern Russia
* South Russia (1919–1920), a territory that existed during the Russian Civil War
** South Russian Government
** Government of South Russia
See also
* South Russian Ovcharka, a breed of sheepdog
* Sou ...
's
Northern Taurida Operation
The Northern Taurida operation (6 June – 3 November 1920) was a military campaign of the Russian Civil War between the Red Army and the Wrangel Russian Army for the possession of Northern Taurida. The campaign can be divided into 3 stages: the ...
. This lasted for several days, until the situation at the front was determined as Yekaterinoslav not being in danger.
Due to years of fighting, 320 buildings in the city were destroyed, and most of the housing stock needed repair. In 1917 about 268,000 people lived in Yekaterinoslav. In 1920 this number had dropped to 189,000.
Stalin-era industrialisation
In late May 1920 the food supply to Yekaterinoslav deteriorated, resulting in a wave of strikes. In June 1920 Soviet authorities quelled one such protest by arresting 200 railway workers, of which 51 were sentenced to immediate execution.
In 1922 the region was incorporated into the
Ukrainian SSR
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...
, a constituent republic of the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
. In 1922 the
Soviet government
The Government of the Soviet Union ( rus, Прави́тельство СССР, p=prɐˈvʲitʲɪlʲstvə ɛs ɛs ɛs ˈɛr, r=Pravítelstvo SSSR, lang=no), formally the All-Union Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, commonly ab ...
ordered that "all nationalized enterprises with names related to the Company or the Surname of the old owners must be renamed in memory of revolutionary events, in memory of the international,
all-Russian
The All-Russian nation (russian: общерусский народ, ) or triune Russian nation (russian: триединый русский народ, label=none, ), also called the pan-Russian nation ( uk, пан-руський народ, ), i ...
or local leaders of the
proletarian revolution
A proletarian revolution or proletariat revolution is a social revolution in which the working class attempts to overthrow the bourgeoisie and change the previous political system. Proletarian revolutions are generally advocated by socialists ...
." In 1922 and 1923 the factories were renamed, as well as dozens of streets, alleys, driveways, squares and parks. In 1923 the city council adopted a resolution to organize a competition to rename the city itself.
In 1924 a Provincial
Congress of Soviets
The Congress of Soviets was the supreme governing body of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and several other Soviet republics from 1917 to 1936 and a somewhat similar Congress of People's Deputies from 1989 to 1991. After the crea ...
adopted a resolution on renaming the city of Yekaterinoslav to the city of Krasnodniprovsk (and Yekaterinoslav Province to Krasnodniprovsk). Following this, many organizations and institutions began to name Yekaterinoslav Krasnodniprovsk in official documents, only to be reminded in the press that the renaming of settlements could only be decided by the
Presidium of the Supreme Soviet
The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (russian: Президиум Верховного Совета, Prezidium Verkhovnogo Soveta) was a body of state power in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). In 1926 a provisional District Congress of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies adopted a resolution on renaming Yekaterinoslav to the name Dnipropetrovsk in honour of the
All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets
The All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets ( uk, Всеукраїнський з'їзд Рад, russian: Всеукраинский съезд Советов) was the supreme governing body of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic from 1917–38. F ...
's chairman of the
All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee
All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee ( uk, italic=yes, Всеукраїнський центральний виконавчий комітет) was a representative body of the All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets. It was the supreme legislative ...
,
Grigory Petrovsky
Grigory Ivanovich Petrovsky (russian: Григо́рий Ива́нович Петро́вский, uk, Григо́рій Іва́нович Петро́вський, translit=Hryhorii Ivanovych Petrovskyi) (3 February 1878 - 9 January 1958) wa ...
.Ukraine tears down controversial statue by Rostyslav Khotin,
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...
(27 November 2009) Same article on UNIAN. /ref>
Petrovsky was present at this congress and he did "accept this honor with great gratitude." The resolution of the congress was approved by a resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet dated 20 July 1926. In the
1920s
File:1920s decade montage.png, From left, clockwise: Third Tipperary Brigade Flying Column No. 2 under Seán Hogan during the Irish War of Independence; Prohibition agents destroying barrels of alcohol in accordance to the 18th amendment, whic ...
and
1930s
File:1930s decade montage.png, From left, clockwise: Dorothea Lange's photo of the homeless Florence Thompson shows the effects of the Great Depression; due to extreme drought conditions, farms across the south-central United States become dry a ...
dozens of streets, alleys, driveways, squares and parks continued to be renamed in the city, this continued in the
1940s
File:1940s decade montage.png, Above title bar: events during World War II (1939–1945): From left to right: Troops in an LCVP landing craft approaching Omaha Beach on D-Day; Adolf Hitler visits Paris, soon after the Battle of France; The Holoca ...
and in subsequent years.
By 1927 the industry of Dnipropetrovsk was completely rebuilt, and according to some indicators exceeded pre-war levels. Due to agrarian overpopulation, an influx of unemployed from other settlements, a higher birth rates among other reasons, both employment and unemployment in Dnipropetrovsk rose. In the late twenties, the authorities had to contend with growing labor unrest. "Do not strangle us, our children are dying of hunger, we have been placed in worse conditions than under the old regime" read one protest.
The city figured prominently in
Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
's
Five-Year Plans Five-year plan may refer to:
Nation plans
*Five-year plans of the Soviet Union, a series of nationwide centralized economic plans in the Soviet Union
*Five-Year Plans of Argentina
*Five-Year Plans of Bhutan, a series of national economic developm ...
for industrialisation. In 1932, Dnipropetrovsk's regional metallurgical plants produced 20 per cent of the entire cast iron and 25 per cent of the steel manufactured in the Ukrainian SSR. By the end of the thirties the Dnipropetrovsk region became the most urbanised of Soviet Ukraine with more than 2,273,000 people living in the region and over half a million in the city proper. Dnipropetrovsk became an important cultural and educational centre with ten colleges and a State University.
The surrounding countryside was devastated by the policy of forced collectivisation and grain seizures. Peasants had died en masse during the
Holodomor
The Holodomor ( uk, Голодомо́р, Holodomor, ; derived from uk, морити голодом, lit=to kill by starvation, translit=moryty holodom, label=none), also known as the Terror-Famine or the Great Famine, was a man-made famin ...
of 1932–33.
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast ( uk, Дніпропетро́вська о́бласть, translit=Dnipropetrovska oblast), also referred to as Dnipropetrovshchyna ( uk, Дніпропетро́вщина), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, obla ...
in the years 1932–33 lost 3.5 to 9.8 million people. Making it one of the most affected areas of the famine.
Drawn by employment in the expanding heavy industry, the survivors changed the ethnic composition of the city. The percentage of residents recorded as Ukrainian rose from 36 percent of the population in 1926 to 54.6 percent in 1939. The Russian percentage fell from 31.6 to 23.4, and the Jewish share fell from 26.8 to 17.9. The city's population during the
Interwar period
In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...
grew rapidly. 368,000 people lived in Dnipropetrovsk in 1932. In the 1939 Soviet Census, this number had grown to more than half a million (500,662 people).
Soviet
Ukrainization
Ukrainization (also spelled Ukrainisation), sometimes referred to as Ukrainianization (or Ukrainianisation) is a policy or practice of increasing the usage and facilitating the development of the Ukrainian language and promoting other elements of ...
and
Korenizatsiya
Korenizatsiya ( rus, коренизация, p=kərʲɪnʲɪˈzatsɨjə, , "indigenization") was an early policy of the Soviet Union for the integration of non-Russian nationalities into the governments of their specific Soviet republics. In the ...
were implemented in Dnipropetrovsk. The
Communist party of Ukraine
The Communist Party of Ukraine, Abbreviation: KPU, from Ukrainian and Russian "" is a banned political party in Ukraine. It was founded in 1993 as the successor to the Soviet-era Communist Party of Ukraine which was banned in 1991 (accord ...
organized special courses in Ukrainian studies. Soviet authorities greatly increased the number of schools, and by the mid-
1930s
File:1930s decade montage.png, From left, clockwise: Dorothea Lange's photo of the homeless Florence Thompson shows the effects of the Great Depression; due to extreme drought conditions, farms across the south-central United States become dry a ...
had eradicate illiteracy in the city. New universities were opened. At the end of the 1930s Dnipropetrovsk had 10 higher and 19 special educational institutions. In the 1930s a significant number of new secondary schools and hospitals were built in the city, and city parks were improved.
The
Great Purge
The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Nikolay Yezhov, Yezhov'), was General ...
, following the
Assassination of Sergei Kirov
The assassination of Sergei Mironovich Kirov, head of the Leningrad party organization, member of the Politburo, the Orgburo, and secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, took place on December 1, 1934, i ...
, also reached Dnipropetrovsk. In 1935 the Dnipropetrovsk
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union.
...
arrested 182 "
Trotskyists
Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...
". In 1935, 235 alleged "internal enemies" were executed, including a few university rectors. In 1936, 526 people were executed. In 1937, the regional administration of the NKVD killed 16,421 people.
Nazi occupation
Dnipropetrovsk was under
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
Reichskommissariat Ukraine
During World War II, (abbreviated as RKU) was the civilian occupation regime () of much of Nazi German-occupied Ukraine (which included adjacent areas of modern-day Belarus and pre-war Second Polish Republic). It was governed by the Reich Min ...
.'' The
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
in Dnipropetrovsk reduced the city's remaining Jewish population, estimates for which range from 55,000 to 30,000, to just 702. In just two days, 13–14 October 1941, the Germans killed 15,000.
In a series of camps in the city (''Stammlager 348''), the occupiers are estimated to have killed upwards of 30,000 Soviet POWs.
In November 1941 Dnipropetrovsk's population was 233,000. In March 1942 this number had fallen to 178,000. On 25 October 1943 the population on the right-bank of the city numbered no more than 5,000. According to official statistics, in 1945 the population of Dnipropetrovsk had increased to 259,000 people.
Post-war closed city
As early as July 1944, the State Committee of Defence in Moscow decided to build a large military machine-building factory in Dnipropetrovsk on the location of the pre-war aircraft plant. In December 1945, thousands of German
prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold priso ...
began construction and built the first sections and shops in the new factory. This was the foundation of the Dnipropetrovsk Automobile Factory. In 1954 the administration of this automobile factory opened a secret design office, designated
OKB-586
Pivdenne Design Office ( uk, Державне конструкторське бюро «Південне» ім. М. К. Янгеля , lit=State design bureau "Southern", named after M. K. Yangel, translit=Derzhavne konstruktors ...
, to construct military
missile
In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket i ...
s and rocket engines.
The high-security project was joined by hundreds of physicists, engineers and machine designers from Moscow and other large Soviet cities. In 1965, the secret Plant No. 586 was transferred to the USSR Ministry of General Machine-Building which renamed it "the Southern Machine-building Factory" (Yuzhnyi mashino-stroitel'nyi zavod) or in abbreviated Russian, simply
Yuzhmash
The State Factory «Production Union Pivdennyi Machine-Building Plant named after O.M. Makarov», PA Pivdenmash or formerly, PA Yuzhmash (Ukrainian: Державне підприємство «Виробниче об'єднання Півде ...
. Yuzhmash became a significant factor in the arms race of the Cold War (
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...
boasted in 1960 that it was producing rockets "like sausages" ).
In 1959, Dnipropetrovsk was officially closed to foreign visitors. No foreign citizen, even of a socialist state, was allowed to visit the city or district. Its citizens were held by Communist authorities to a higher standard of ideological purity than the rest of the population, and their freedom of movement was severely restricted. It was not until 1987, during
perestroika
''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated wit ...
, that Dnipropetrovsk was opened to international visitors and civil restrictions were lifted.
The population of Dnipropetrovsk increased from 259,000 people in 1945 to 845,200 in 1965.
Notwithstanding the high-security regime, in September and October 1972, workers downed tools in several factories in Dnipropetrovsk demanding higher wages, better food and living conditions, and the right to choose one's job. Labor miiltancy returned in the late 1980s, a period in which promises of Perestrioka and
Glasnost
''Glasnost'' (; russian: link=no, гласность, ) has several general and specific meanings – a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information, the inadmissibility of hushing up problems, ...
raised popular expectations. In 1990 two thousand inmates rioted in the women's remand prison in a further of sign of growing unrest.''New York Times'', 20 June 1990 ''Evolution in Europe; Soviet Troops Kill an Inmate During Riot in Ukrainian Jail'' This stated that TASS had issued a statement saying that there had been a riot by 2,000 inmates in a prison in Dnipropetrovsk. The riot broke out on Thursday 14 June 1990, and was quelled by Soviet troops on Friday 15 June 1990, killing one prisoner and wounding another.
Dissent and youth rebellion
In 1959 17.4% of Dnipropetrovsk students were taught in Ukrainian language schools and 82.6% in Russian language schools. 58% of the city's inhabitants self-identified as Ukrainians. Compared with the other 3 biggest
cities of Ukraine
This is a complete list of cities in Ukraine. On 1 January 2022, there were 461 cities ( uk, місто, ''misto'') in Ukraine. City status is granted by the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament. The city status is only partially related to th ...
Dnipropetrovsk had a rather large share of education conducted in Ukrainian. In Kyiv 26.8% of pupils studied in Ukrainian and 73.1% in Russian while 66% of
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
residents considered themselves Ukrainian, in
Kharkiv
Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.Odesa
Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrative ...
Ukrainian SSR
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...
, Dnipropetrovsk saw an influx of young immigrants from rural Ukraine.
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast ( uk, Дніпропетро́вська о́бласть, translit=Dnipropetrovska oblast), also referred to as Dnipropetrovshchyna ( uk, Дніпропетро́вщина), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, obla ...
saw the highest inflow of rural youth of all Ukraine.
According to
KGB
The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
reports, in the 1960s "
Samizdat
Samizdat (russian: самиздат, lit=self-publishing, links=no) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the document ...
" and
Ukrainian diaspora
The Ukrainian diaspora comprises Ukrainians and their descendants who live outside Ukraine around the world, especially those who maintain some kind of connection, even if ephemeral, to the land of their ancestors and maintain their feeling of Uk ...
publications began to circulate via
Western Ukraine
Western Ukraine or West Ukraine ( uk, Західна Україна, Zakhidna Ukraina or , ) is the territory of Ukraine linked to the former Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, which was part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Austria ...
in Dnipropetrovsk. These fed into underground student circles where they promoted interest in the " Ukrainian Sixtiers", in
Ukrainian history
Prehistoric Ukraine, as a part of the Pontic steppe in Eastern Europe, played an important role in Eurasian cultural contacts, including the spread of the Chalcolithic, the Bronze Age, Indo-European migrations and the domestication of the hors ...
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian ( uk, украї́нська мо́ва, translit=ukrainska mova, label=native name, ) is an East Slavic language of the Indo-European language family. It is the native language of about 40 million people and the official state langu ...
. Occasionally the blue and yellow flag of independent Ukraine was unfurled in protest. The authorities responded with repression: arresting and jailing members of underground discussion groups for "nationalistic propaganda".
The growing evidence of dissent in the city coincided from the late 1960s with what the KGB referred to as "radio hooliganism". Thousands of high-school and college students had become
ham radio
Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communic ...
enthusiasts, recording and rebroadcasting western popular music. Annual KGB reports regularly drew a connection between enthusiasm for western pop culture and anti-Soviet behavior. In the 1980s, by which time the KGB had conceded that their raids against "hippies" had failed suppress the youth rebellion, such behavior was reportedly found in an admixture of Anglo-American" heavy metal, punk rock and Banderism—the veneration of
Stepan Bandera
Stepan Andriyovych Bandera ( uk, Степа́н Андрі́йович Банде́ра, Stepán Andríyovych Bandéra, ; pl, Stepan Andrijowycz Bandera; 1 January 1909 – 15 October 1959) was a Ukrainian far-right leader of the radical, terr ...
, and of other Ukrainian nationalists, who in the Soviet narrative were denounced and discredited as
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
collaborators.
In an attempt to provide Dnipropetrovsk youth with an ideologically safe alternative, beginning in 1976 the local
Komsomol
The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (russian: link=no, Всесоюзный ленинский коммунистический союз молодёжи (ВЛКСМ), ), usually known as Komsomol (; russian: Комсомол, links=n ...
set up approved
discoteque
A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music.
Nightclubs gener ...
s. Some of the activists involved in this "disco movement" went on in the 1980s to engage in their own illicit tourist and music enterprises, and several later became influential figures in Ukrainian national politics, among them
Yulia Tymoshenko
Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko ( uk, Юлія Володимирівна Тимошенко, ; Hrihyan ();Victor Pinchuk
Victor Mykhailovych Pinchuk ( uk, Віктор Михайлович Пінчук, ''Viktor Mykhailovych Pinchuk''; born 14 December 1960) is a Ukrainian businessman and oligarch. As of January 2016, ''Forbes'' ranked him as 1,250th on the list o ...
,
Serhiy Tihipko
Serhiy Leonidovych Tihipko ( uk, Сергій Леонідович Тiгiпко; born 13 February 1960) is a Ukrainian politician and finance specialist who was Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine. Tihipko was Minister of Economics in 2000 and subse ...
,
Ihor Kolomoyskyi
Ihor Valeriyovych Kolomoyskyi ( uk, Ігор Валерійович Коломойський, translit=Ihor Valereriyovych Kolomoyskyi; he, איגור קולומויסקי; born 13 February 1963) is a Ukrainian-born billionaire, business magn ...
and
Oleksandr Turchynov
Oleksandr Valentynovych Turchynov ( uk, Олександр Валентинович Турчинов; born 31 March 1964) is a Ukrainian politician, screenwriter, Baptist minister and economist. He is the former Secretary of the National Sec ...
.The Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music and Social Class ed. Ian Peddie, New York / London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2020, , page 318 + 319
The "Dnipropetrovsk Mafia"
Reflecting Dnipropetrovsk's special strategic importance for the entire Soviet Union, party cadres from the "rocket city" played an outsized role not only in republican leaderhip in Kyiv, but also in the Union leadership in Moscow. During Stalin's
Great Purge
The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Nikolay Yezhov, Yezhov'), was General ...
,
Leonid Brezhnev
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev; uk, links= no, Леонід Ілліч Брежнєв, . (19 December 1906– 10 November 1982) was a Soviet Union, Soviet politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Gener ...
rose rapidly within the ranks of the local ''
nomenklatura
The ''nomenklatura'' ( rus, номенклату́ра, p=nəmʲɪnklɐˈturə, a=ru-номенклатура.ogg; from la, nomenclatura) were a category of people within the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries who held various key admi ...
Palgrave Macmillan
Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains off ...
, p. 9.
ISBN
The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier that is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.
An ISBN is assigned to each separate edition and ...
Dnipropetrovsk Metallurgical Institute
National Metallurgical Academy of Ukraine (NMetAU; formerly DMetl, Dnipropetrovsk Metallurgical Institute) is a university in Dnipro dedicated to the study of metallurgy.
History
National Metallurgical Academy of Ukraine is the oldest higher ...
in 1936 to regional (Obkom) Party Secretary in charge of the city's defense industries in 1939.
Here, he took the first steps toward building a network of supporters which came to be known as the "
Dnipropetrovsk Mafia
The "Dnipropetrovsk Mafia" was the name given to an informal group of Soviet politicians who held high office while Leonid Brezhnev was First Secretary or General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in 1964–82, whom he k ...
". They spearheaded the internal party coup that in 1964 saw Brezhnev replace
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...
as
General Secretary
Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...
of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
"Hymn of the Bolshevik Party"
, headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow
, general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last)
, founded =
, banned =
, founder = Vladimir Lenin
, newspaper ...
and call a halt to further reform.
Independent Ukraine
In a national referendum on 1 December 1991, 90.36% of Dnipropetrovsk's voters approved the
declaration of independence
A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the ...
that had been made by the
Ukrainian parliament
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ( uk, Верхо́вна Ра́да Украї́ни, translit=, Verkhovna Rada Ukrainy, translation=Supreme Council of Ukraine, Ukrainian abbreviation ''ВРУ''), often simply Verkhovna Rada or just Rada, is the ...
on 24 August. Amidst the economic dislocation and soaring inflation that accompanied the
collapse of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
, output declined. Although its economic contraction was at a rate below the national average, the Dnipropetrovsk city and oblast witnessed one of the largest population declines of all the
regions of Ukraine
The administrative divisions of Ukraine (Ukrainian: Адміністрати́вний у́стрій Украї́ни, tr. ''Administratyvnyi ustrii Ukrainy'') are subnational administrative divisions within the geographical area of Ukraine un ...
. By 2021, the city's population, which had stood at over 1.2 million in 1991, had been reduced to 981,000. Young people from Dnipropetrovsk were among the millions of Ukrainians who left the country to find work and opportunity abroad.
The continuation into the new century of the chaotic fallout from the
collapse of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
was symbolized for many in Dnipropetrovsk by two violent episodes. In June and July 2007, Dnipropetrovsk experienced a wave of random video-recorded serial killings that were dubbed by the media as the work of the " Dnipropetrovsk maniacs". In February 2009, three youths were sentenced for their part in 21 murders, and numerous other attacks and robberies. On 27 April 2012, four bombs exploded near four tram stations in Dnipropetrovsk, injuring 27 people. No one was convicted. Opposition politicians claimed to see the hand of President
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych ( uk, Віктор Федорович Янукович, ; ; born 9 July 1950) is a former politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 until he was removed from office in the Revolution of Di ...
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych ( uk, Віктор Федорович Янукович, ; ; born 9 July 1950) is a former politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 until he was removed from office in the Revolution of Di ...
(Ukrainian President) and pro-
Euromaidan
Euromaidan (; uk, Євромайдан, translit=Yevromaidan, lit=Euro Square, ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protes ...
activists attempted but failed to capture the Regional State Administration building.Ukraine protests 'spread' into Russia-influenced east
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...
(26 January 2014) There were street disturbances and Euromaidan protesters were reported to be beaten up by paid pro-Yanukovych supporters (the so-called ''
Titushky
The Titushky (plural; uk, тітушки, russian: титушки) were mercenary agents in Ukraine who supported the Ukrainian security services during the administration of Viktor Yanukovych, often posing as street hooligans in sports clothing ...
''). Dnipropetrovsk Governor Kolesnikov called them "extreme radical thugs from other regions".
Two days later about 2,000 public sector employees called an indefinite rally in support of the Yanukovych government. Meanwhile, the government building was reinforced with barbed wire. On 19 February 2014 there was an anti-Yanukovych picket near the Regional State Administration. On 22 February 2014, after a further anti-Yanukovych demonstration, Dnipropetrovsk Mayor
Ivan Kulichenko
Ivan Ivanovych Kulichenko ( uk, Іван Іванович Куліченко; born on 7 July 1955, Dnipropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR, USSR) is a Ukrainian politician who was from 2014 until 2019 People's Deputy of Ukraine; prior to this he was Mayor ...
, for the sake of "peace in the city" left Yanukovych's
Party of Regions
The Party of Regions ( uk, Партія регіонів, Partiia rehioniv, ; russian: Партия регионов, Partiya regionov) was a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine formed in late 1997 that then grew to be the biggest party of Uk ...
Espreso TV
Espreso TV ( uk, Еспресо TV) is an Internet television station in Ukraine that started to operate in November 2013. Espreso TV enabled the Euromaidan protests to be broadcast worldwide.
Ownership
The channel is owned by the media company ...
NEWSru.ua
NEWSru.com was a Russian online news site, based in Moscow, which had a government-critical orientation.
History
NEWSru.com was originally launched in 2000 at the address ntv.ru. When the government took over the NTV network in 2000, with the n ...
Ukrayinska Pravda
''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukraini ...
(22 February 2014)
Simultaneously the Dnipropetrovsk City Council vowed to support "the preservation of Ukraine as a single and indivisible state", although some members had called for
separatism
Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seeking greate ...
and for
federalization
Federalism is a combined or compound mode of government that combines a general government (the central or "federal" government) with regional governments ( provincial, state, cantonal, territorial, or other sub-unit governments) in a single p ...
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
, 22 February 2014, Yanukovych left Ukraine and went into Russian exile.Ukraine crisis timeline
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...
2014 to 2022
Dnipropetrovsk remained relatively quiet during the
2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine
From the end of February 2014, demonstrations by pro-Russian and anti-government groups took place in major cities across the Eastern Ukraine, eastern and Southern Ukraine, southern regions of Ukraine in the aftermath of the Revolution of Dig ...
, with pro-Russian Federation protestors outnumbered by those opposing outside intervention. In March 2014 the city's Lenin Square was renamed "Heroes of Independence Square" in honor of the people killed during
Euromaidan
Euromaidan (; uk, Євромайдан, translit=Yevromaidan, lit=Euro Square, ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protes ...
. The
statue of Lenin
This article is a list of current and former known monuments of Vladimir Lenin. Many of the monuments in former Soviet republics and satellites were removed after the fall of the Soviet Union, while some of these countries retained the thousands o ...
on the square was removed. In June 2014 another Lenin monument was removed and replaced by a monument to the
Ukrainian military
, imports =
, exports =
, history =
, ranks = Military ranks of Ukraine
, country=Ukraine
The Armed Forces of Ukraine ( uk, Збро́йні си́ли Украї́ни), most commonly known ...
fighting the
Russo-Ukrainian War
The Russo-Ukrainian War; uk, російсько-українська війна, rosiisko-ukrainska viina. has been ongoing between Russia (alongside Russian separatist forces in Donbas, Russian separatists in Ukraine) and Ukraine since Feb ...
.
To comply with the 2015 decommunization law the city was renamed ''Dnipro'' in May 2016, after the river that flows through the city. By summer 2016 not only was the city was renamed, but so were more than 350 streets, alleys, driveways, squares and parks. For example,
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
Avenue, the main street, was renamed Yavornytskyi Avenue in honour of the once neglected city and cossack historian. This was 12 percent of all of the city's toponymies. Five of the eight
urban district
Urban district may refer to:
* District
* Urban area
* Quarter (urban subdivision)
* Neighbourhood
Specific subdivisions in some countries:
* Urban districts of Denmark
* Urban districts of Germany
* Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (hist ...
s of the city received new names.
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
In the wake of the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
on 24 February 2022, and with developing military fronts near
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
and to the
north
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography.
Etymology
T ...
,
east
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...
and
south
South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...
, Dnipro has become a logistical hub for humanitarian aid and a reception point for people fleeing the war. Roughly equidistant from most of the war's major battlegrounds —
Donetsk
Donetsk ( , ; uk, Донецьк, translit=Donets'k ; russian: Донецк ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin and Stalino (see also: Names of European cities in different languages (C–D), cities' alternat ...
,
Mariupol
Mariupol (, ; uk, Маріу́поль ; russian: Мариу́поль) is a city in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is situated on the northern coast (Pryazovia) of the Sea of Azov, at the mouth of the Kalmius River. Prior to the 2022 Russian i ...
,
Kherson
Kherson (, ) is a port city of Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers appr ...
and
Kharkiv
Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.Dnieper River
}
The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and B ...
crossing and the opportunity it would provide to cut off Ukrainian forces in the
Donbas
The Donbas or Donbass (, ; uk, Донба́с ; russian: Донба́сс ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. Parts of the Donbas are controlled by Russian separatist groups as a result of the Russo-Ukrai ...
makes the city a high-value target for the Russians.
Dnipro is reported as the only city in Ukraine where a volunteer formation has been created under direct City Council control. It is called the "Dnieper Guard" (Варти Дніпра, Varty Dnipra). The Mayor of Dnipro,
Borys Filatov
Borys Albertovych Filatov ( uk, Борис Альбертович Філатов; born 7 March 1972, in Dnipropetrovsk) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian politician, journalist, lawyer, businessman, and the current Mayor of Dnipro. In 2014 Ukrainian parlia ...
has dismissed suggestions that the group remained
Ihor Kolomoyskyi
Ihor Valeriyovych Kolomoyskyi ( uk, Ігор Валерійович Коломойський, translit=Ihor Valereriyovych Kolomoyskyi; he, איגור קולומויסקי; born 13 February 1963) is a Ukrainian-born billionaire, business magn ...
's "private army". Kolomoyskyi has helped with some equipment purchases, but the force performs defence and law and order functions under the leadership of the
national police National Police may refer to the national police forces of several countries:
*Afghanistan: Afghan National Police
*Haiti: Haitian National Police
*Colombia: National Police of Colombia
*Cuba: Cuban National Police
*East Timor: National Police of ...
.
The Russians first hit Dnipro on 11 March. Three air strikes close to a kindergarten and an apartment building killed at least one person. On 15 March, Russian missiles hit
Dnipro International Airport
Dnipro International Airport ( ua, Міжнародний аеропорт «Дніпро») was an airport serving Dnipro, a city in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is located southeast from the city center.
On 24 February 2022, Ukraine c ...
, destroying the runway and damaging the terminal. In the early hours of 6 April, an air strike destroyed an oil depot. On 10 April, a Ukrainian government spokesperson said that the airport in Dnipro had been "completely destroyed" as the result of a Russian attack. On 15 July, a Russian missile attack killed four people and injured sixteen others in Dnipro.
As part of the derussification campaign that swept through Ukraine following the February 2022 invasion 110 toponyms in the city were "de-Russified" from February to September 2022. The renaming started on 21 April when 31 streets connected to Russia were renamed. In May another 20 streets were renamed, followed by 21 more streets and alleys in June 2022. According to Dnipro's Mayor
Borys Filatov
Borys Albertovych Filatov ( uk, Борис Альбертович Філатов; born 7 March 1972, in Dnipropetrovsk) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian politician, journalist, lawyer, businessman, and the current Mayor of Dnipro. In 2014 Ukrainian parlia ...
(speaking on 21 September 2022) "this is not the end." Among other renamings, the Schmidt Street (the street was originally the Gymnasium Street but it was renamed to
Otto Schmidt
Otto Yulyevich Shmidt, be, Ота Юльевіч Шміт, Ota Juljevič Šmit (born Otto Friedrich Julius Schmidt; – 7 September 1956), better known as Otto Schmidt, was a Soviet scientist, mathematician, astronomer, geophysicist, statesm ...
Street by
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
authorities in 1934) in the center of Dnipro was renamed to
Stepan Bandera
Stepan Andriyovych Bandera ( uk, Степа́н Андрі́йович Банде́ра, Stepán Andríyovych Bandéra, ; pl, Stepan Andrijowycz Bandera; 1 January 1909 – 15 October 1959) was a Ukrainian far-right leader of the radical, terr ...
Street. In May 2022 (also) several outdoor objects related to the
USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
were dismantled in Dnipro.
Dnipro was hit during the autumn 2022 Russian missile strikes on critical infrastructure. On 10 October three civilians were killed. On 18 October 2022 Russian missile strikes targeted the energy infrastructure of Dnipro.Man wounded, over 30 residential buildings damaged in Dnipro ' (in English). 18 October 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022. On 17 November 2022 23 people were injured.
In December 2022 Dnipro removed from the city all monuments to figures of
Russian culture
Russian culture (russian: Культура России, Kul'tura Rossii) has been formed by the nation's history, its geographical location and its vast expanse, religious and social traditions, and Western culture, Western influence. Russian ...
and
history
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
.
Government and politics
Government
The City of Dnipro is governed by the Dnipro City Council. It is a city municipality that is designated as a separate district within its oblast.
Administratively, the city is divided into "districts in city" ("raiony v misti"). Presently, there are 8 of them.
Aviatorske
Aviatorśke ( uk, Авіаторське) or Aviatorskoye (russian: Авиаторское) is an urban-type settlement in Dnipro Raion within Dnipropetrovsk Oblast of eastern Ukraine. It belongs to Dnipro urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukr ...
, an urban-type settlement located near the
Dnipro International Airport
Dnipro International Airport ( ua, Міжнародний аеропорт «Дніпро») was an airport serving Dnipro, a city in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is located southeast from the city center.
On 24 February 2022, Ukraine c ...
, is also a part of Dnipro Municipality.
The City Council Assembly makes up the administration's legislative branch, thus effectively making it a city 'parliament' or rada. The municipal council is made up of 12 elected members, who are each elected to represent a certain district of the city for a four-year term. The council has 29 standing commissions which play an important role in the oversight of the city and its merchants.
Until 18 July 2020, Dnipro was incorporated as a city of oblast significance, the centre of Dnipro Municipality and extraterritorial administrative centre of
Dnipro Raion
Dnipro Raion ( uk, Дніпровський район), until 2016 Dnipropetrovsk Raion ( uk, Дніпропетровський район) is a raion (district) of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, southeastern-central Ukraine. Its administrative centre ...
. The municipality was abolished in July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast to seven. The area of Dnipro Municipality was merged into Dnipro Raion.
Dnipro is also the seat of the oblast's local administration controlled by the
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast ( uk, Дніпропетро́вська о́бласть, translit=Dnipropetrovska oblast), also referred to as Dnipropetrovshchyna ( uk, Дніпропетро́вщина), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, obla ...
Rada
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senat ...
. The
Governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
The Governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast is the head of executive branch for the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
The office of Governor is an appointed position, with officeholders being appointed by the President of Ukraine, on recommendation from the Prim ...
is appointed by the
President of Ukraine
The president of Ukraine ( uk, Президент України, Prezydent Ukrainy) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, condu ...
Radio Svoboda
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...
(2 December 2015)
Politics
In the first decades of
Ukrainian independence
Ukraine emerged as the concept of a nation, and the Ukrainians as a nationality, with the Ukrainian National Revival which began in the late 18th and early 19th century. The first wave of national revival is traditionally connected with the publ ...
the city's voters generally favoured the proponents of continued close ties to Russia: in the 1990s the
Communist Party of Ukraine
The Communist Party of Ukraine, Abbreviation: KPU, from Ukrainian and Russian "" is a banned political party in Ukraine. It was founded in 1993 as the successor to the Soviet-era Communist Party of Ukraine which was banned in 1991 (accord ...
, and in the new century, the
Party of Regions
The Party of Regions ( uk, Партія регіонів, Partiia rehioniv, ; russian: Партия регионов, Partiya regionov) was a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine formed in late 1997 that then grew to be the biggest party of Uk ...
.Ukraine's political parties at the start of the election campaign
Centre for Eastern Studies
The Centre for Eastern Studies ( pl, Ośrodek Studiów Wschodnich, OSW) is a Warsaw-based think tank that undertakes independent research on the political, economic and social situation in Central and Eastern Europe, Balkans, Caucasus and Central ...
(17 September 2014) After the 2014 events of
Euromaidan
Euromaidan (; uk, Євромайдан, translit=Yevromaidan, lit=Euro Square, ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protes ...
, which included demonstrations and clashes in the central city, the Party of Regions ceded influence to those parties and independents calling for closer ties to the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
.
As in Soviet Ukraine, Dnipropetrovsk was disproportionately represented among political leaders in Kyiv. The principal representatives of the so-called "Dnipropetrovsk Faction" in the capital were Ukraine's second president
Leonid Kuchma
Leonid Danylovych Kuchma ( uk, Леоні́д Дани́лович Ку́чма; born 9 August 1938) is a Ukrainian politician who was the second president of Ukraine from 19 July 1994 to 23 January 2005. Kuchma's presidency saw numerous corrup ...
and Ukraine's 10th and 13th prime minister
Yulia Tymoshenko
Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko ( uk, Юлія Володимирівна Тимошенко, ; Hrihyan (); Kuchma was a former senior manager of
Yuzhmash
The State Factory «Production Union Pivdennyi Machine-Building Plant named after O.M. Makarov», PA Pivdenmash or formerly, PA Yuzhmash (Ukrainian: Державне підприємство «Виробниче об'єднання Півде ...
while Tymoshenko was president of
United Energy Systems of Ukraine
United Energy Systems of Ukraine, (UESU) ( uk, Єдині енергетичні системи України, ЄЕСУ), was a natural gas trading company in Ukraine. In the years 1995 and 1996, it was the largest natural gas importer in Ukraine ...
, a Dnipropetrovsk-based private company that from 1995 to 1997 was the main importer of Russian natural gas to Ukraine.
Kuchma's 1994 presidential campaign had been financed by Dnipropetrovsk businessmen
Ihor Kolomoyskyi
Ihor Valeriyovych Kolomoyskyi ( uk, Ігор Валерійович Коломойський, translit=Ihor Valereriyovych Kolomoyskyi; he, איגור קולומויסקי; born 13 February 1963) is a Ukrainian-born billionaire, business magn ...
and
Gennadiy Bogolyubov
Gennadiy (Zvi Hirsch) Bogolyubov (born 1961/1962) is a Ukrainian billionaire businessman based in the United Kingdom. He controls Privat Group, along with Ihor Kolomoyskyi and Oleksiy Martynov.
Early life
Gennadiy Bogolyubov is a native of Dnipro ...
. Kolomoyskyi and Bogolyubov were partners in
Privat Group The Privat Group, or PrivatBank Group ( uk, Група «Приват», Romanization of Ukrainian, romanized: ''Hrupa "Pryvat"'') is a Multinational corporation, global business group, based in Ukraine. Privat Group controls thousands of companies ...
, a scandal-ridden financial-industrial conglomerate. As prime Minister, Kuchma had granted their '' PrivatBank'' the unique priviege of opening overseas branches. These were later implicated in the wholesale defrauding of Ukrainian depositors, leading to the bank's nationalization in 2016. Kuchma was also closely tied to another budding Dnipropetrovsk billionaire, his son-in-law
Viktor Pinchuk
Victor Mykhailovych Pinchuk ( uk, Віктор Михайлович Пінчук, ''Viktor Mykhailovych Pinchuk''; born 14 December 1960) is a Ukrainian businessman and oligarch. As of January 2016, ''Forbes'' ranked him as 1,250th on the list o ...
whose assets included several giant steel and pipe plants in the region and the bank ''Kredit-Dnepr''.
With
Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko ( uk, Віктор Андрійович Ющенко, ; born 23 February 1954) is a Ukrainian politician who was the third president of Ukraine from 23 January 2005 to 25 February 2010.
As an informal leader of th ...
, Tymoshenko co-led the
Orange Revolution
The Orange Revolution ( uk, Помаранчева революція, translit=Pomarancheva revoliutsiia) was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate afterm ...
which annulled the declared vidtory of
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych ( uk, Віктор Федорович Янукович, ; ; born 9 July 1950) is a former politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 until he was removed from office in the Revolution of Di ...
in the 2004 presidential election, and under President Yuschenko served as prime minister from 24 January to 8 September 2005, and again from 18 December 2007 to 4 March 2010. Yanukovych narrowly defeated Tymoshenko the 2010 presidential election, taking 41.7 percent of the vote in the Dnipropetrovsk region. The candidates accused one another of
vote rigging
Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...
.
In the October
2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election
The Ukrainian parliamentary election of 2012 took place on 28 October 2012.Party of Regions
The Party of Regions ( uk, Партія регіонів, Partiia rehioniv, ; russian: Партия регионов, Partiya regionov) was a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine formed in late 1997 that then grew to be the biggest party of Uk ...
, which promoted itself as the champion of the language rights and industrial interests of largely Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine, won 35.8 percent of the vote in the Dnipropetrovsk region, compared to 18.4 percent for Tymoshenko's Fatherland Party and 19.4 percent for the
Communists
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a so ...
. Tymoshenko mounted a hunger strike to once again protest election irregularities.
On 2 March 2014, following the removal of Yanukovich as President, acting President
Oleksandr Turchynov
Oleksandr Valentynovych Turchynov ( uk, Олександр Валентинович Турчинов; born 31 March 1964) is a Ukrainian politician, screenwriter, Baptist minister and economist. He is the former Secretary of the National Sec ...
appointed
Ihor Kolomoyskyi
Ihor Valeriyovych Kolomoyskyi ( uk, Ігор Валерійович Коломойський, translit=Ihor Valereriyovych Kolomoyskyi; he, איגור קולומויסקי; born 13 February 1963) is a Ukrainian-born billionaire, business magn ...
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
of
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast ( uk, Дніпропетро́вська о́бласть, translit=Dnipropetrovska oblast), also referred to as Dnipropetrovshchyna ( uk, Дніпропетро́вщина), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, obla ...
. Kolomoyskyi initially dismissed suggestions of Russian-backed separatism in Dnipropetrovsk, but then took vigorous measures. He posted bounties for the capture of Russian-backed militants and the surrender of weapons; drafted housands of Privat Group employees as auxiliary police officers; and is said to have provided substantial funds to create the
Dnipro Battalion
, image = Eмблема полку спеціального призначення «Дніпро-1».png
, image_size = 200
, caption = Dnipro-1 Regiment shoulder sleeve insignia
, dates = 2014–present
...
,The Town Determined to Stop Putin
The Daily Beast
''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008.
It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...
(12 June 2014)Ukraine's Secret Weapon: Feisty Oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
Azov
Azov (russian: Азов), previously known as Azak,
is a town in Rostov Oblast, Russia, situated on the Don River just from the Sea of Azov, which derives its name from the town. Population:
History
Early settlements in the vicinity
The mo ...
, and
Donbas
The Donbas or Donbass (, ; uk, Донба́с ; russian: Донба́сс ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. Parts of the Donbas are controlled by Russian separatist groups as a result of the Russo-Ukrai ...
volunteer battalions
Ukrainian volunteer battalions (, more formally , or abbreviated ) were militias and paramilitary groups mobilized as a response to the perceived state of weakness and unwillingness of the regular Armed Forces to counter rising separatism in spri ...
.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region,
Petro Poroshenko
Petro Oleksiyovych Poroshenko ( uk, Петро́ Олексі́йович Пороше́нко, ; born 26 September 1965) is a Ukrainian businessman and politician who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. Poroshenko ser ...
Petro Poroshenko Bloc
European Solidarity ( uk, Європейська солідарність, Yevropeis'ka solidarnist', YeS) is a political party in Ukraine. It has its roots in a parliamentary group called Solidarity dating from 2000 and has existed since in vario ...
secured 19.4 percent of the vote, 5 points behind the
Opposition Bloc
russian: Оппозиционный блок
, colorcode =
, logo = Opposition Bloc.png
, logo_size = 240px
, leader1_title = Chairman
, leader1_name = Rinat Akhmetov (one wing)Dmytro Firtash & Yuriy Boyko ( ...
, the successor to the disbanded Party of Regions.Two Russia-friendly parties join forces for presidential election
Kyiv Post
The ''Kyiv Post'' is the oldest English-language newspaper in Ukraine, founded in October 1995 by Jed Sunden.
History
American Jed Sunden founded the ''Kyiv Post'' weekly newspaper on Oct. 18, 1995 and later created KP Media for his holdings. ...
(9 November 2018)
On 25 March 2015, following a struggle with Kolomoyskyi for control the state-owned oil pipeline operator, President Poroshenko replaced Kolomoyskyi as governor with
Valentyn Reznichenko
Valentyn Mykhaylovych Reznichenko ( uk, Валентин Михайлович Резніченко; born on 22 April 1972), is a Ukrainian government official who is since 11 December 2020 Governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
In the
2015 Ukrainian local elections
On 25 October 2015 local elections took place in Ukraine. The elections were conducted a little over a year since the 2014 2014 Ukrainian local elections, snap local elections, which were only held throughout parts of the country. A second roun ...
Borys Filatov
Borys Albertovych Filatov ( uk, Борис Альбертович Філатов; born 7 March 1972, in Dnipropetrovsk) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian politician, journalist, lawyer, businessman, and the current Mayor of Dnipro. In 2014 Ukrainian parlia ...
Ukrinform
The National News Agency of Ukraine ( uk, Українське національне інформаційне агентство), or Ukrinform ( uk, Укрінформ), is a state information and news agency, and international broadcaster of ...
(18 November 2015)
In the March–April
2019 Ukrainian presidential election
The 2019 Ukrainian presidential election was held on 31 March and 21 April in a two-round system.
There were 39 candidates for the election on the ballot. The 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia and the occupation of parts of Donetsk Oblast an ...
Dnipro voted overwhelmingly voted for the successful candidate,
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy, ; russian: Владимир Александрович Зеленский, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Zelenskyy, (born 25 January 1978; also transliterated as Zelensky or Zelenskiy) is a Ukrainian politicia ...
, who advocated memberhsip of European Union. In the parliamentary election in October, his
Servant of the People
Servant of the People (SN; uk, Слуга народу, Sluha narodu, ) is a liberal, centrist, pro-European political party in Ukraine.
It was formed in late 2017 and was officially registered on 31 March 2018 on the basis of the previously ...
party swept the board, winning each of Dnipro's five single-mandate parliamentary constituencies.
By the time of the October 2020 Ukrainian local elections, support for Zelenskyy's party had collapsed: it won just 8.7 percent of the vote for the city council. The Euromaidan trajectory was represented instead by Filatov's
Proposition
In logic and linguistics, a proposition is the meaning of a declarative sentence. In philosophy, " meaning" is understood to be a non-linguistic entity which is shared by all sentences with the same meaning. Equivalently, a proposition is the no ...
(the "Party of Mayors"), with 60 percent of the popular vote against 30 percent for the pro-Russian the
Opposition Platform – For Life
Opposition may refer to:
Arts and media
* Opposition (Altars EP), ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars
* The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band
* ''The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night tel ...
.
Geography
The city is built mainly upon both banks of the Dnieper, at its confluence with the
Samara River
The Samara ( rus, Сама́ра, p=sɐˈmarə) is a river in Russia and a left-bank tributary of the Volga. It flows into the larger river at the city of Samara. Its largest tributary is the Bolshoy Kinel. It is long, and its drainage basin ...
. In the loop of a major meander, the Dnieper changes its course from the north west to continue southerly and later south-westerly through Ukraine, ultimately passing
Kherson
Kherson (, ) is a port city of Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers appr ...
, where it finally flows into the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
.
Nowadays both the north and south banks play home to a range of industrial enterprises and manufacturing plants. The airport is located about south-east of the city.
The centre of the city is constructed on the right bank which is part of the
Dnieper Upland
The Dnieper Upland or Cisdnieper Upland ( uk, Придніпровська височина, translit=Prydniprovska vysochyna) is a southeastern European plain occupying the territory between the Dnieper and the Southern Bug. It lies in central U ...
, while the left bank is part of the
Dnieper Lowland
Dnieper Lowland () is a major geographic feature of the Central Ukraine region and the East European Plain.
Location
It lies along the midstream of Dnieper river mostly on its left bank from Belarus all the way to Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. The lowlan ...
. The old town is situated atop a hill that is formed as a result of the river's change of course to the south. The change of river's direction is caused by its proximity to the
Azov Upland
Azov Upland is a plateau or range of hills in East Ukraine within the Donetsk Oblast, Donetsk and Zaporizhia oblasts.
To the north it borders Dnieper Lowland, to northeast – Donets Ridge, southwest – Black Sea Lowland, south – Az ...
located southeast of the city.
One of the city's streets, Akademik Yavornitskyi Prospekt, links the two major architectural ensembles of the city and constitutes an important thoroughfare through the centre, which along with various suburban radial road systems, provides some of the area's most vital transport links for both suburban and inter-urban travel.
humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...
(''Dfa/Dfb''). Snowfall is more common in the hills than at the city's lower elevations. The city has four distinct seasons: a cold, snowy winter; a hot summer; and two relatively wet transition periods. However, according to other schemes (such as the Salvador Rivas-Martínez bioclimatic one), Dnipro has a Supratemperate bioclimate, and belongs to the Temperate xeric steppic thermoclimatic belt, due to high
evapotranspiration
Evapotranspiration (ET) is the combined processes by which water moves from the earth’s surface into the atmosphere. It covers both water evaporation (movement of water to the air directly from soil, canopies, and water bodies) and transpi ...
.
During the summer, Dnipro is very warm (average day temperature in July is , even hot sometimes ). Temperatures as high as have been recorded in May. Winter is not so cold (average day temperature in January is , but when there is no snow and the wind blows hard, it feels extremely cold. A mix of snow and rain happens usually in December.
The best time for visiting the city is in late spring (late April and May), and early in autumn: September, October, when the city's trees turn yellow. Other times are mainly dry with a few showers.
"However, the city is characterized with significant pollution of air with industrial emissions." The "severely polluted air and water" and allegedly "vast areas of decimated landscape" of Dnipro and
Donetsk
Donetsk ( , ; uk, Донецьк, translit=Donets'k ; russian: Донецк ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin and Stalino (see also: Names of European cities in different languages (C–D), cities' alternat ...
are considered by some to be an environmental crisis.www.mongabay.com Russia – Geography states: "Since 1990 Russian experts have added to the list the following less spectacular but equally threatening environmental crises: the Dnepropetrovsk-Donets and Kuznets coal-mining and metallurgical centres, which have severely polluted air and water and vast areas of decimated landscape;..." Though exactly where in Dnipropetrovsk these areas might be found is not stated.
Cityscape
Dnipro is a primarily industrial city of around one million people. It has developed into a large urban centre over the past few centuries to become, today, Ukraine's fourth-largest city after
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
,
Kharkiv
Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.Odesa
Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrative ...
.
Stalinist architecture
Stalinist architecture, mostly known in the former Eastern Bloc as Stalinist style () or Socialist Classicism, is the architecture of the Soviet Union under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, between 1933 (when Boris Iofan's draft for the Palace ...
(monumental soviet classicism) dominates in the city centre.
Immediately after its foundation, Dnipro, or as it was then known Yekaterinoslav, began to develop exclusively on the right bank of the
Dnieper River
}
The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and B ...
. At first the city developed radially from the central point provided by the Transfiguration Cathedral, completed in 1835.Neoclassical structures of brick and stone construction were preferred and the city began to take on the appearance of a typical European city of the era. Many of these buildings have been retained in the city's older Sobornyi District. Amongst the most important buildings of this era are the Transfiguration Cathedral, and a number of buildings in the area surrounding Akademik Yavornitskyi Prospekt, including the
Khrennikov House
The Khrennikov House is a four-floor building in Dnipro (formerly Yekaterinoslav), one of the best examples of the Art Nouveau architecture in the city. It is located at the corner of Dmytra Yavornytskoho Avenue and Korolenko Street and current ...
.
Over the next few decades, until the final end of the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
with the
October Revolution
The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...
in 1917, the city did not change much in appearance. The predominant architectural style remained
neo-classicism
Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative
Beauty is commonly described as a feature of objects that makes these objects pleasurable to perceive. Such objects include landscapes, sunsets, ...
. Notable buildings built in the era before 1917 include the main building of the
Dnipro Polytechnic
The Dnipro University of Technology ( uk, Національний технічний університет «Дніпровська політехніка»), abbreviated in Ukrainian as NTU DP ( uk, НТУ ДП) is located in Dnipro, the third ...
, which was built in 1899–1901, the art-nouveau inspired building of the city's former
Duma
A duma (russian: дума) is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions.
The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were for ...
(parliament), the Dnipropetrovsk National Historical Museum, and the
Mechnikov Mechnikov (russian: Мечников ''Mečnikov'', uk, Мечников ''Mechnykov, Mečnykov''; Metchnikov) is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov
Ilya, Iliya, Ilia, Ilja, or Ilija (russian: Илья́ ...
Regional Hospital. Other buildings of the era that did not fit the typical architectural style of the time in Dnipropetrovsk include, the Ukrainian-influenced Grand Hotel Ukraine, the Russian revivalist style railway station (since reconstructed), and the
art-nouveau
Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
Astoriya building on Akademik Yavornitskyi Prospekt.
Once Yekaterinoslav became part of the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
(Treaty on the Creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, officially in 1922), and became Dnipropetrovsk in 1926, the city was gradually purged of tsarist-era monuments. Monumental architecture was stripped of Imperial coats of arms and other non-socialist symbolism. Following the 1917 October Revolution, a monument to
Catherine the Great
, en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes
, house =
, father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst
, mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp
, birth_date =
, birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...
that stood in front of the Mining Institute was replaced with one of Russian academic Mikhail Lomonosov.
Later, due to damage from Eastern Front (World War II), World War II, badly damaged buildings were, more often than not, demolished completely and replaced with new structures. This is one of the main reasons why much of Dnipro's central avenue, Dmytro Yavornytsky, Akademik Yavornitskyi Prospekt (formerly
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
Prospect), is designed in the style of Stalinist Socialist realism, Social Realism. A number of large buildings were reconstructed. The main railway station, for example, was stripped of its Russian Revival architecture, Russian-revival ornamentation and redesigned in the style of Stalinist social-realism.
The Khrennikov House, Grand Hotel Ukraine survived the war but was later simplified much in design, with its roof being reconstructed in a typical French Mansard roof, mansard style as opposed to the ornamental Ukrainian Baroque, Ukrainian baroque of the pre-war era. Many pre-revolution buildings were reconstructed to suit new purposes. For example, the Nicholas II of Russia, Emperor Nicholas II Commercial Institute in the city was reconstructed to serve as the administrative centre for the
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast ( uk, Дніпропетро́вська о́бласть, translit=Dnipropetrovska oblast), also referred to as Dnipropetrovshchyna ( uk, Дніпропетро́вщина), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, obla ...
, a function it fulfils to this day. Other buildings, such as the Potemkin Palace were given over to "the proletariat" (the working man), in this case as the students' union of the Oles Honchar Dnipro National University.
After the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953 and the appointment of
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...
as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the industrialisation of Dnipropetrovsk became even more profound, with the PA Pivdenmash, Southern (Yuzhne) Missile and Rocket factory being set up in the city. However, this was not the only development and many other factories, especially metallurgical and heavy-manufacturing plants, were set up in the city.
As a result of all this industrialisation the city's inner suburbs became increasingly polluted and were gradually given over to large, industrial enterprises. At the same time the extensive development of the city's left bank and western suburbs as new residential areas began. The low-rise tenant houses of the Khrushchev era (Khrushchyovkas) gave way to the construction of high-rise prefabricated apartment blocks (similar to German Plattenbaus). In 1976, in line with the city's 1926 renaming, a large monumental statue of Grigoriy Petrovsky was placed on the square in front of the city's station. This statue was destroyed by an angry mob in early 2016.
Since the independence of Ukraine in 1991 and the economic development that followed, a number of large commercial and business centres have been built in the city's outskirts. To this day the city is characterised by its mix of architectural styles, with much of the city's centre consisting of pre-revolutionary buildings in a variety of styles, stalinist buildings and constructivist architecture, whilst residential districts are, more often than not, made up of aesthetically simple, technically outdated mid-rise and high-rise housing stock from the Soviet era. Despite this, the city has a large number of 'private sectors' where the tradition of building and maintaining individual detached housing has continued to this day.
In late November 2015 about 300 streets, 5 of the 8 city districts and one metro station were renamed to comply with decommunization laws. As part of the derussification campaign that swept through Ukraine following the February
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
, 110 toponyms in the city were renamed from February to September 2022. On 3 May 2022 alone more than a dozen memorials erected during Soviet times were dismantled. In December 2022 the Dnipro communal services (in accordance a decision of the City Council) removed from the city all monuments to figures of
Russian culture
Russian culture (russian: Культура России, Kul'tura Rossii) has been formed by the nation's history, its geographical location and its vast expanse, religious and social traditions, and Western culture, Western influence. Russian ...
and
history
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
. This this meant that monuments to Alexander Pushkin, Alexander Matrosov, Volodia Dubinin, Maxim Gorky, Valery Chkalov, and Mikhail Lomonosov were removed from the public space of the city. On 16 November 2022 Pushkin Avenue in Dnipro had been renamed Lesya Ukrainka Avenue.
File:Istorichnii myzei Dnipropetrovs'ka.JPG, The Yavornytsky Historical Museum
File:Lenin statue in Dnipropetrovsk, lateral view.JPG, In the early 1950s, during the ongoing industrialisation of the city, much of Dnipropetrovsk's centre was rebuilt in the Stalinist style of Socialist Realism. The statue of Lenin pictured here was removed in March 2014.In East Ukraine, fear of Putin, anger at Kiev br
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File:Passage, Dnepropetrovsk.jpg,
Stalinist architecture
Stalinist architecture, mostly known in the former Eastern Bloc as Stalinist style () or Socialist Classicism, is the architecture of the Soviet Union under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, between 1933 (when Boris Iofan's draft for the Palace ...
blends with the post-modernism of Dnipro's 'Passage' shopping and entertainment centre
File:Будинок Громадського зібрання 1.jpg, The Dnipro Philharmonic
Demographics
The population of the city is about 1 million people. In 2011, the average age of the city's resident population was 40 years. The number of males declined slightly more than the number of females. The natural population growth in Dnipro is slightly higher than growth in Ukraine in general.
Between 1923 and 1933 the Ukrainian proportion of the population of Dnipropetrovsk increased from 16% to 48%. Ukrainization, This was part of a national trend.Volodymyr Kubiyovych; Zenon Kuzelia, Енциклопедія українознавства ''(Encyclopedia of Ukrainian studies)'', 3-volumes, Kyiv, 1994,
In a survey in June–July 2017, 9% of residents said that they spoke Ukrainian at home, 63% spoke Russian, and 25% spoke Ukrainian and Russian equally.
The same survey reported the following results for the religion of adult residents.
*49% Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate
*6% Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate
*7% atheist
*1% belong to other religions
*28% believe in God, but do not belong to any religion
*5% found it difficult to answer
Economy
Dnipro is a major industrial centre of Ukraine. It has several facilities devoted to heavy industry that produce a wide range of products, including cast-iron, launch vehicles, rolled metal, pipes, machinery, different mining combines, agricultural equipment, tractors, trolleybuses, refrigerators, different chemicals and many others. The most famous and the oldest (founded in the 19th century) is the Dniprovsky Metallurgical Plant (from 1922 until the time of decommunization in Ukraine, the plant was named after the Soviet Union statesman
Grigory Petrovsky
Grigory Ivanovich Petrovsky (russian: Григо́рий Ива́нович Петро́вский, uk, Григо́рій Іва́нович Петро́вський, translit=Hryhorii Ivanovych Petrovskyi) (3 February 1878 - 9 January 1958) wa ...
).
Metals and metallurgy is the city's core industry in terms of output. Employment in the city is concentrated in large-sized enterprises. Metallurgical enterprises are based in the city and account for over 47% of its industrial output. These enterprises are important contributors to the city's budget and, with 80% of their output being exported, to Ukraine's foreign exchange reserve. Dnipro serves as the main import hub for foreign goods coming into the oblast and, on average, accounted for 58% of the oblast's imports between 2005 and 2011. With economic conditions improving even further in 2010 and 2011, registered unemployment fell to about 4,100 by the end of 2011.
The city of Dnipro's economy is dominated by the wholesale and retail trade sector, which accounted for 53% of the output of non-financial enterprises in 2010.
Entrepreneur
Ihor Kolomoyskyi
Ihor Valeriyovych Kolomoyskyi ( uk, Ігор Валерійович Коломойський, translit=Ihor Valereriyovych Kolomoyskyi; he, איגור קולומויסקי; born 13 February 1963) is a Ukrainian-born billionaire, business magn ...
's
Privat Group The Privat Group, or PrivatBank Group ( uk, Група «Приват», Romanization of Ukrainian, romanized: ''Hrupa "Pryvat"'') is a Multinational corporation, global business group, based in Ukraine. Privat Group controls thousands of companies ...
, a global business group, is based in the city and grouped around the Privatbank. Privat Group controls thousands of companies of virtually every industry in Ukraine,
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
, Georgia (country), Georgia, Ghana, Russia, Romania, United States and other countries. Steel, oil & gas, chemical and energy are sectors of the group's prime influence and expertise. Privat Group is in business conflict with the Interpipe, also based in Dnipro area. The influential metallurgical mill company founded and mostly owned by the local business oligarch Viktor Pinchuk.
Another company headquartered in Dnipro is ATB-Market. This company owns the largest national network of retail shops.
None of the group's capital is publicly traded on the stock exchange. Group's founding owners are natives of Dnipro and made their entire career here. Privatbank, the core of the group, is the largest commercial bank in Ukraine. In March 2014 was named by the American review magazine ''Global Finance'' as "the Best Bank in Ukraine for 2014" while British magazine ''The Banker'' in November 2013 named again the same bank as "the Bank of the year 2013 in Ukraine".
In 2018 a private Texas-based aerospace firm Firefly Aerospace opened a Research and Development (R&D) center in Dnipro to develop small and medium-sized launch vehicles for commercial launches to orbit.
Transport
Local transportation
The main forms of public transport used in Dnipro are trams, buses and electric trolley buses. In addition to this there are a large number of taxi firms operating in the city, and many residents have private cars.
The city's municipal roads also suffer from the same funding problems as the trams, with many of them in a very poor technical state. It is not uncommon to find very large potholes and crumbling surfaces on many of Dnipro's smaller roads. Major roads and highways are of better quality. In the early 2010s the situation was improving, with a number of new used trams bought from the German cities of Dresden and Magdeburg, and a number of roads, including Otto Schmidt, Schmidt Street (now
Stepan Bandera
Stepan Andriyovych Bandera ( uk, Степа́н Андрі́йович Банде́ра, Stepán Andríyovych Bandéra, ; pl, Stepan Andrijowycz Bandera; 1 January 1909 – 15 October 1959) was a Ukrainian far-right leader of the radical, terr ...
Street) and Moskovsky Street (now Vladimir II Monomakh, Volodymyr Monomakh Street) were being reconstructed with modern road-building techniques.
Dnipro also has a Dnipro Metro, metro system, opened in 1995, which consists of one line and 6 stations. The 1980 official plans for four different lines were never made reality.The metro is being designed in Dnepropetrovsk (Metrostroy magazine No.5 1980) , Dnipro Metropoliten (unofficial website of Dnipro Metro) In 2011 the metro was transferred to municipal ownership in the hope that this will help it secure a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. In 2011, plans envisioned an expansion of three station, , and , to be completed by 2015. The opening of these three stations have been repeatedly delayed and they will not open until 2024 at the earliest. The extension will increase the number of stations to nine, which would extend the line 4 km to a total of 11.8 km (7.3-mile).Construction of three new metro stations in the Dnieper continued until 2024
Ukrayinska Pravda
''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukraini ...
(21 April 2021)
Suburban transportation
Dnipro has some highways crossing through the city. The most popular routes are from
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
,
Donetsk
Donetsk ( , ; uk, Донецьк, translit=Donets'k ; russian: Донецк ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin and Stalino (see also: Names of European cities in different languages (C–D), cities' alternat ...
,
Kharkiv
Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
Ukraine’s border crossings with Russia and Belarus are closed to regular traffic.
In the summertime, there are some routes available by hydrofoils on the
Dnieper River
}
The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and B ...
, whilst various tourist ships on their way down the river, (Kyiv–
Kherson
Kherson (, ) is a port city of Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers appr ...
–
Odesa
Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrative ...
) tend to make a stop in the city. Dnipro's river port is located close to the area surrounding the central railway station, on the banks of the river.
Rail
The city is a large railway junction, with many daily trains running to and from Eastern Europe and on domestic routes within Ukraine.
There are two railway terminals, Dnipro Railway station, Dnipro Holovnyi (main station) and Dnipro Lotsmanska (south station).
Two express passenger services run each day between
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
and Dnipro under the name 'Capital Express'. Other daytime services include suburban trains to towns and villages in the surrounding
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast ( uk, Дніпропетро́вська о́бласть, translit=Dnipropetrovska oblast), also referred to as Dnipropetrovshchyna ( uk, Дніпропетро́вщина), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, obla ...
. Most long-distance trains tend to run at night to reduce the amount of daytime hours spent travelling by each passenger.
Domestic connections exist between Dnipro and
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
, Lviv,
Odesa
Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrative ...
, Ivano-Frankivsk, Truskavets,
Kharkiv
Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
all railway connection between Ukraine and Belarus were axed. Meaning that the pre-war international destinations to Minsk in Belarus, Moscow's Kursky Rail Terminal, Kursky Station and Saint Petersburg's Vitebsky Rail Terminal, Vitebsky Station in Russia and Baku—the capital of Azerbaijan—are no longer in service.
Aviation
The city is served by
Dnipro International Airport
Dnipro International Airport ( ua, Міжнародний аеропорт «Дніпро») was an airport serving Dnipro, a city in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is located southeast from the city center.
On 24 February 2022, Ukraine c ...
and is connected to European and Middle Eastern cities with daily flights. It is located southeast from the city center. 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, A Russian attack on 10 April 2022 completely destroyed the airport and the infrastructure nearby.
Water transportation
The city has a river port located on the left bank of the
Dnieper
}
The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and B ...
. There is also a railroad freight station.
Education
There are 163 educational institutions among them schools, gymnasiums and boarding schools. For children of pre-school age there are 174 institutions, also a lot of out-of -school institutions such as center of out-of-school work. Eighty-seven institutions that are recognized on all Ukrainian and regional levels.
In a survey in June–July 2017, adult respondents reported the following educational levels:
*1% primary or incomplete secondary education
*13% general secondary education
*46% vocational secondary education
*39% university education (including incomplete university education)
In 2006 Dnipropetrovsk hosted the All-Ukrainian Olympiad in Information Technology; in 2008, that for Mathematics, and in 2009 the semi-final of the All-Ukrainian Olympiad in Programming for the Eastern Region. In the same year as the latter took place, the youth group 'Eksperiment', an organisation promoting increased cultural awareness amongst Ukrainians, was founded in the city.
Higher education
Dnipro is a major educational centre in Ukraine and is home to two of Ukraine's top-ten universities; the Oles Honchar Dnipro National University and Dnipro Polytechnic, Dnipro Polytechnic National Technical University.
The system of high education institutions connects 38 institutions in Dnipro, among them 14 of IV and ІІІ levels of accreditation, and 22 of І and ІІ levels of accreditation. In year 2012 National Mining Institute was on the 7th and National University named after O. Honchar was on the 9th place among the best high education institutions in "TOP-200 Ukraine" list.
The list below is a list of all current state-organised higher educational institutions (not included are non-independent subdivisions of other universities not based in Dnipro).
In the 21st century annually around 55,000 students studied in Dnipro, a significant number of whom students from abroad.
Culture
Attractions
Dnipro has a variety of theatres (plus an Opera) and museums, including the Dmytro Yavornytsky National Historical Museum of Dnipropetrovsk, Dmytro Yavornytsky National Historical Museum. There are also several parks, restaurants and beaches.
The major streets of the city were renamed in honour of Marxism–Leninism, Marxist heroes during the Soviet Union, Soviet era. Following the 2015 law on decommunization these have been renamed.
The central thoroughfare is known as Akademik Yavornytskyi Prospekt, a wide and long boulevard that stretches east to west through the centre of the city. It was founded in the 18th century and parts of its buildings are the actual decoration of the city. In the heart of the city is Soborna Square, which includes the Transfiguration Cathedral founded by order of
Catherine the Great
, en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes
, house =
, father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst
, mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp
, birth_date =
, birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...
in 1787. On the square, there are some remarkable buildings: the Museum of History, Diorama "Battle of the Dnieper, Battle for the Dnipro River (Eastern Front (World War II), World War II)."
Further from the city centre and next to the
Dnieper River
}
The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and B ...
(spelled "Dnipro" in
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
) is the large Taras Shevchenko Park (which is on the right bank of the river) and
Monastyrskyi Island Monastyrskyi Island ( uk, Монастирський острів) is an island within the boundaries of the Sobornyi district of the Ukrainian city of Dnipro near the right bank of the Dnipro river.
It is covered with granite rocks to the west wh ...
. In the 9th century, History of the Eastern Orthodox Church#Byzantine period, Byzantine monks based a monastery here.
A few areas retain their historical character: all of Central Avenue, some street-blocks on the main hill (the Nagorna part) between Pushkin Prospekt and Embankment, and sections near Globa (formerly known as Chkalov park until it was renamed) and Shevchenko parks have been untouched for 150 years.
The river keeps the climate mild. It is visible from many points in Dnipro. From any of the three hills in the city, one can see a view of the river, islands, parks, outskirts, river banks and other hills.
There was no need to build skyscrapers in the city in Soviet times. The major industries preferred to locate their offices close to their factories and away from the centre of town. Most new office buildings are built in the same architectural style as the old buildings. A number, however, display more modern aesthetics, and some blend the two styles.
Sports
FC Dnipro is the most successful association football, football club of the city. It is a former second runner-up in the Ukrainian Premier League and in the UEFA Cup it reached and lost the 2015 UEFA Europa League Final. It also was the only Soviet team to win the USSR Federation Cup twice. The club was owned by the
Privat Group The Privat Group, or PrivatBank Group ( uk, Група «Приват», Romanization of Ukrainian, romanized: ''Hrupa "Pryvat"'') is a Multinational corporation, global business group, based in Ukraine. Privat Group controls thousands of companies ...
. The club has been inactive since 2019. Note: A bandy team, a basketball team and others use the same name.
Other local football include: FC Lokomotyv Dnipropetrovsk and FC Spartak Dnipropetrovsk, both of which have large fan bases. SC Dnipro-1 is another team emerged in 2017. SC Dnipro-1 established itself as the most successful club in town; playing in the Ukrainian Premier League, the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Europa Conference League.
In 2008 the city built a new soccer stadium; the Dnipro-Arena has a capacity of 31,003 people and was built as a replacement for Dnipro's old stadium, Stadium Meteor. The Dnipro-Arena hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification game between Ukraine national football team, Ukraine and England national football team, England on 10 October 2009. The Dnipro Arena was initially chosen as one of the Ukrainian venues for their joint Euro 2012 UEFA Euro 2012 bids, bid with Poland. However, it was dropped from the list in May 2009 as the capacity fell short of the minimum 33,000 seats required by UEFA. The city is home to BC Dnipro, champion of the 2019–20 Ukrainian Basketball SuperLeague. The team plays its home games at the ''Palace of Sports Shynnik''.
The city is the centre of Ukrainian bandy. The Ukrainian Federation of Bandy and Rink-Bandy has its office in the city. The foremost local bandy club is Dnipro (bandy), Dnipro, which won the List of Ukrainian bandy champions, Ukrainian championship in 2014.
Notable people
* Peter Arshinov (1886–1937) – Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary and intellectual, chronicled the history of the Makhnovshchina, a stateless anarchist society in Ukraine
* Helena Blavatsky (1831–1891) – founder of Theosophical Society.
* Marina Maximillian Blumin, Marina Maximilian (born 1987) – Israeli singer-songwriter and actress.
*
Gennadiy Bogolyubov
Gennadiy (Zvi Hirsch) Bogolyubov (born 1961/1962) is a Ukrainian billionaire businessman based in the United Kingdom. He controls Privat Group, along with Ihor Kolomoyskyi and Oleksiy Martynov.
Early life
Gennadiy Bogolyubov is a native of Dnipro ...
(born 1961/1962) – Ukrainian-Cypriot-Israeli billionaire businessman,
Privat Group The Privat Group, or PrivatBank Group ( uk, Група «Приват», Romanization of Ukrainian, romanized: ''Hrupa "Pryvat"'') is a Multinational corporation, global business group, based in Ukraine. Privat Group controls thousands of companies ...
* Viktor Chebrikov (1923–1999) – head of the
KGB
The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
1982–1988.
* Katherine Esau (1898–1997) German-American botanist
* Vsevolod Garshin (1855—1888) – Russian author of short stories.
* Helen Gerardia (1903–1988) – American painter
* Linor Goralik (born 1975) flash fiction author, poet and essayist.
* Ilya Kabakov (born 1933) – Russian–American conceptual artist
* Pavlo Khazan (born 1974) – Ukrainian ecologist and politician
*
Ihor Kolomoyskyi
Ihor Valeriyovych Kolomoyskyi ( uk, Ігор Валерійович Коломойський, translit=Ihor Valereriyovych Kolomoyskyi; he, איגור קולומויסקי; born 13 February 1963) is a Ukrainian-born billionaire, business magn ...
(born 1963 – U.S.-indicted Ukrainian-Cypriot-Israeli billionaire businessman,
Privat Group The Privat Group, or PrivatBank Group ( uk, Група «Приват», Romanization of Ukrainian, romanized: ''Hrupa "Pryvat"'') is a Multinational corporation, global business group, based in Ukraine. Privat Group controls thousands of companies ...
* Leonid Kogan (1924–1982) – violinist
* Yuri Krasny (born 1946) — educational theorist
* Victor Kravchenko (defector), Victor Kravchenko (1905–1966) Soviet defector
*
Leonid Kuchma
Leonid Danylovych Kuchma ( uk, Леоні́д Дани́лович Ку́чма; born 9 August 1938) is a Ukrainian politician who was the second president of Ukraine from 19 July 1994 to 23 January 2005. Kuchma's presidency saw numerous corrup ...
(born 1938) –
President of Ukraine
The president of Ukraine ( uk, Президент України, Prezydent Ukrainy) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, condu ...
in 1994–2005
* Pavlo Lazarenko (born 1953) – Prime Minister of Ukraine in 1996–97
* Leonid Levin (born 1948) Soviet-American mathematician and computer scientist.
* Konstantin Lopushansky (born 1947) – film director, film theorist and author
* Yuriy Meshkov (1945–2019) – President of Crimea, 1994–1995
* Igor Morozov (baritone), Igor Morozov (born 1948) – baritone opera singer
* David Nachmansohn (1899–1983) – a German-Jewish biochemist
* Viktor Petrov (1894–1969) – Ukrainian existentialist writer, pen names ''V. Domontovych'' and ''Viktor Ber''
* Gregor Piatigorsky (1903–1976) American classical cellist.
* Viktor Pinchuk (born 1960) – business oligarch
* Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953) – composer, pianist and conductor
* Boris Sagal (1923–1981) – American television and film director.
* Daniel Sakhnenko (1875–1930) — Ukrainian filmmaker and director.
* Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902–1994) – the ''"Lubavitcher Rebbe",'' headed the Chabad Movement
* Moses Schönfinkel (1888–1942) – a Russian logician and mathematician
* Oleg Tsaryov (born 1970) – politician and separatist leader of Novorossiya (confederation), Novorossiya in 2014
*