Melitopol County

Melitopol ( uk, Меліто́поль, translit=Melitópol’, ; russian: Мелитополь; based on el, Μελιτόπολις - "honey city") is a city and municipality in Zaporizhzhia Oblast in southeastern Ukraine. Melitopol has been occupied by Russia since March 2022. It is situated on the Molochna River, which flows through the eastern edge of the city into the Molochnyi Lyman estuary. Melitopol is the second-largest city in the oblast after Zaporizhzhia and serves as the administrative center of Melitopol Raion.

As of January 2022 Melitopol's population was approximately Its population has since declined substantially due to the city's capture in the opening weeks of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The city is located at the crossing of two major European highways: E58 Vienna – Uzhhorod – Kyiv – Rostov-on-Don and E105 Kirkenes – St. Petersburg – Moscow – Kyiv – Yalta. An electrified railway line of international importance goes through Melitopol. The city was once known as "the gateway to the Crimea"; prior to the 2014 Russian occupation of Crimea 80% of passenger trains heading to the peninsula passed through it and during summer road traffic would reach 45,000 vehicles per day.

History

In July 1769, Russian military commanders built a redoubt there, and Zaporizhia Cossacks carried out their duty service there. On 2 February 1784, Catherine II issued the decree to create the Taurian Province on the lands that had been won. The deputy of Novorossiya Grigory Potemkin signed the relation to establish a town that very year – and Cossacks' families and those of retired soldiers of Suvorov settled on the right bank of the Molochna River. Among others, Germans were encouraged to settle in the new province, and some villages in this area were for many years German-speaking, such as Heidelberg (now Pryshyb) some to the north of Melitopol.

In 1816, the settlement got the name ''sloboda'' ''of Novoalexandrovka''. Its population was increasing due to the importation of peasants from the northern provinces of Ukraine and Russia. On 7 January 1842, the sloboda was recognized as a town and received the new name of Melitopol after a port city of Melita (from Greek ''Μέλι'' (meli) – "honey") which had been situated on the mouth of the Molochna River. At the end of the 19th century, the "Honey-city" had been developed as a trade center – there were some banks, credit organizations and wholesale stores. The largest enterprises in the city at the time were the iron foundry and the Brothers Klassen's machinery construction factory (1886), the railroad depot and the workshops.

Further development of the city was closely connected with trade, iron and engineering industries, and railway service in the Crimean direction. In the early twentieth century there were fifteen thousand people living in Melitopol. 30 factories and 350 shops operated in the city at that time. In the second half of the twentieth century there was a strong economic growth of the city: new factories, plants, and housing estates were constructed. Sixteen Melitopol business enterprises received All-Soviet Union significance status. Industrial products were exported to more than 50 countries.

World War II

In 1941, the Soviet Union was attacked by Nazi Germany. The city became strategically important due to its location. The Red Army was not ready for the war and had to retreat. The German Wehrmacht occupied Melitopol on 6 October 1941. Within one week the entire remaining Jewish population of Melitopol (2,000 men, women and children) were murdered by Einsatzgruppe D actively supported by the Wehrmacht. The Germans operated a Nazi prison in the city.

The Wotan Line Battle

After breaking through on the Mius River and defeating Axis troops in the Donbas and Taganrog, the Soviet Southern Front army pursuing the retreating enemy came to the Molochna River on 22 September 1943. Here, in the basin of the Milk River, German troops had begun to build a strong long-term defence which they called the Panther-Wotan line. It was on this line that the fate of the Crimean peninsula and the whole course of offensive operations in the southern Soviet Union were decided.

The German defense consisted of four lines, covered with solid anti-tank ditches and land mines. The first attempt of the Soviet Southern Front army to break through was unsuccessful. Soviet commanders decided to prepare thoroughly a new attempt: the so-called “Melitopol operation”, which was carried out successfully from 26 September to 5 November 1943.

Despite the courage and heroism of Soviet soldiers, fighting lasted long, as the Germans introduced fresh reserves in order to keep Melitopol. Finally, after many days of heavy street fighting against vastly superior numbers of men and equipment, German resistance was broken and on 23 October the Red Army took complete control of the city. By decrees of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet, 87 Red soldiers and airmen were awarded the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union" for their actions in the reconquest of Melitopol.

Russo-Ukrainian War

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Melitopol was attacked by the Russian forces on 25 February, and captured after heavy fighting by 1 March. Mayor Ivan Fedorov pledged noncooperation, and locals took to the streets to protest the Russian occupation. On 11 March Fedorov was abducted by the Russian military and released five days later as part of a prisoner swap. In the meantime, the Russian forces had attempted to install former councilor Halyna Danylchenko of the Opposition Bloc party as acting mayor. The Melitopol City Council declared that this was an attempt to "illegally create an occupation administration" and appealed to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine to launch a pre-trial investigation into Danylchenko and her party. On 23 March 2022, now-exiled Mayor Fedorov reported that the city was experiencing problems with food, medication, and fuel supplies, and that the Russian military was seizing businesses, intimidating the local population, and holding several journalists in custody.

On 30 May, a bomb exploded in central Melitopol during a humanitarian aid transfer between local residents and Russian personnel, injuring at least three people, according to the Russian investigative committee's website which referenced "Ukrainian saboteurs" as the possible perpetrators. In a statement from exile, Ivan Fedorov alluded to the possibility that the bombing was connected to local Ukrainian resistance fighters. On 30 September, in a move unrecognized internationally, the city was annexed by Russia as part of the Russian annexation of Zaporizhzhia oblast.

Climate

Melitopol has a humid continental climate that borders on a humid subtropical climate (''Dfa'' bordering on ''Cfa'' according to the Köppen climate classification). The temperature is slightly below freezing in winter and hot in summer, with January, the coolest month, having a mean of and an average low of , although February has a lower average low of . July is the warmest month, with a mean of and an average high of .

Melitopol receives of precipitation annually. Precipitation is distributed evenly year-round, with no wet or dry season, although some months are wetter or have more precipitation days than others. June is the wettest month, receiving of rain on average. October is the driest month, receiving of rainfall. There are a similar amount of precipitation days each month, with August having the least with 4.3 days and December and January having the most with 7.5 days. Melitopol has 75.2 precipitation days annually on average. Humidity is higher in winter than in summer, with August being the least humid month and December being the most humid.

Culture

There is a design project of the Intercultural Park, prepared by a group of European architects and designers led by Mark Glaudemans – Director of the European Laboratory for urban planning, the Dean of the Academy of Architecture and Urbanism (city of Tilburg, Netherlands).
In Melitopol removed first short film in 2015, "The Zone".

Among all the diversity of cultural events in Melitopol there are these unique activities:
# The Festival of Brides
# "Miss and Mister Interculturality" contest
# The Cherry Festival "Chereshnevo"
# The Honey Festival "Medovo"

Melitopol has 38 monuments, memorials and statues registered. One of them is the statue of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, the famous hetman of the Zaporozhian Host. His images are printed on Ukrainian 5 hryvnia's banknotes. The other one represents Ostap Bender a hero of the book of Ilf and Petrov "12 chairs".

Melitopol has a number of museum, including the Melitopol Museum of Local History, which holds a collection of 60,000 objects relating to the history, culture and environment of the city. On 10 March 2022, after the Russian attack on the city, the director of the museum, Leila Ibragimova, was arrested at her home by Russian forces, and was detained in an unknown location.

Special notes

The Stone Grave

There is the unique relic of the Stone Grave ( uk, Кам'яна могила, translit. ''Kamyana mohyla'', russian: Каменная могила) north of Melitopol. It is a relic of sandstone from the Sarmatian epoch of the Tertiary period. Its exact coordinates are

Melitopol honey

Recently, the city actively created its own brand as a "city of honey", which is the translation of the Greek word "melitos". The city formed a cluster of honey producers, prepared investment projects for the establishment of an apitherapy center (treatment with the help of bee products) and encourages the creation of souvenir products made from honey.

Commemorative silver coin

In October 2013, the National Bank of Ukraine introduced a new commemorative silver coin on the 70th anniversary of the Melitopol offensive against German troops and the liberation of the city of Melitopol on 23 October 1943. The new coin was called "The Breakthrough of Soviet Troops Against the German Defence Line Wotan and liberation of Melitopol" and each of the 30,000 limited-edition coins was worth the equivalent of $US5.

Twin towns – sister cities

Melitopol is twinned with:
* Brive-la-Gaillarde, France
* Barysaw, Belarus
* Pukhavichy Raion, Belarus
* Kėdainiai, Lithuania
* Sliven, Bulgaria

Education

In 1874, a technical school was founded in the city which, after a series of reforms and transformations, became Tavria State Agrotechnological University.

The city now has two public universities − Tavria State Agrotechnological Academy and Bohdan Khmelnytsky Melitopol State Pedagogical University,Melitopol State Pedagogical University
official site as well as a private institute – Zaporizhzhia Institute of Economics and Information Technologies.

A long history of universities and schools is one of the reasons that Melitopol is called "the city of students". More than 10% of its citizens are students.

The strong system of education is represented by different types of educational institutions at all levels of accreditation: two universities, four branches of different universities in Ukraine, seven professional schools, and three colleges.

26 pre-schools are operating in the city, in which 6,000 young citizens are being educated. In addition, for more than 500 children with special needs under the age of seven years there are rehabilitation programs to provide the needed services.

Educational services for 14,000 students are provided by 23 secondary schools. There is a center of labor training and professional orientation for young people. A network of six non-school institutions are the following: the Centre of Ecological-Naturalistic Art for Youth, the Center of Tourist and Local Lore Creativity for Youth, the Station of Young Technicians, the Vodvudenko Palace for Children and Teenagers Creativity, Small Academy of Sciences, and the Center of Children and Teenagers. Other creative centers unite nine communal hobby clubs.

Transportation

The aerodrome close to the city, where the 25th Transport Aviation Brigade is based, is not used for passenger services.

The two main highways leading through Melitopol are the M14 Odesa-Novoazovsk Highway and the M26 Kharkiv-Simferopol National Highway.

Melitopol railway station acts as the transit point for passengers travelling between Moscow and the Crimea. The city is also called the "gateway to the Crimea". Melitopol has two bus stations, the older one operates local services, whereas buses from the newer station form part of the national bus service. The marshrutka

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