Oleshky ( uk, Оле́шки, Oleshky, ; russian: Алёшки) is a town in

Kherson Raion Kherson Raion ( uk, Херсонський район, russian: Херсонский район) is a raion (district) of Kherson Oblast, Ukraine. It was created in July 2020 as part of the reform of administrative divisions of Ukraine. The cente ...

Kherson Oblast Kherson Oblast ( uk, Херсо́нська о́бласть, translit=Khersónsʹka óblastʹ, ), also known as Khersonshchyna ( uk, Херсо́нщина, ), is an oblast (province) in southern Ukraine, currently claimed and partly occupied ...

, southern

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 ...

, located on the left 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 ...

with the town of Solontsi to the south. It is the oldest city of the oblast and one of the oldest in

southern Ukraine Southern Ukraine ( uk, південна Україна, translit=pivdenna Ukrayina) or south Ukraine refers, generally, to the oblasts in the south of Ukraine. The territory usually corresponds with the Soviet economical district, the Southern E ...

. Oleshky hosts the administration of

Oleshky urban hromada Oleshky ( uk, Оле́шки, Oleshky, ; russian: Алёшки) is a town in Kherson Raion, Kherson Oblast, southern Ukraine, located on the left bank of the Dnieper River with the town of Solontsi, Kherson Raion, Solontsi to the south. It is the ...

, one of the

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 ...

s of Ukraine. It had a population of

Administrative status

Until 18 July 2020, Oleshky was the administrative center of

Oleshky Raion Oleshky Raion ( uk, Олешківський район) was one of the 18 administrative raions (a ''district'') of Kherson Oblast in southern Ukraine. Its administrative center was located in the city of Oleshky. The raion was abolished on 18 ...

. The raion was abolished in July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Kherson Oblast to five. The area of Oleshky Raion was merged into Kherson Raion.

Geography

The town is located in the south of Ukraine. The

Konka River The Konka ( uk, Конка, Кінські Води, Кінська, Кінка, crh, Yilki Su) is a left tributary of the Dnieper, flowing through the Zaporizhzhia Oblast. It is long, and has a drainage basin of . Among cities that are located ...

goes through the town before falling into the

Dnipro 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 ...

. The

Oleshky Sands Oleshky Sands ( ua, Олешківські піски, Oleshkivsʹki pisky) is a desert in Ukraine. It is situated inland from the Ukrainian coast of the Black Sea and consists of sand dunes or ''kuchuhury'' (locally), which reach a height up t ...

are located in a close proximity to the town.

History

The city of Oleshia has been known since the 11th century, when it was a part of

Kyivan 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 ...

, but the area itself has been known since antiquity.Pospelov, pp. 26–27

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...

mentioned

Scythia Scythia (Scythian: ; Old Persian: ; Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) or Scythica (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ), also known as Pontic Scythia, was a kingdom created by the Scythians during the 6th to 3rd centuries BC in the Pontic–Caspian steppe. His ...

n forests in the mouth of the Dnieper in the 5th century BCE, which were called "Oleshye" (from the Slavic word for ''forest'') by the

Slavs Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...

. The town, which appeared later, took its name from the area, and the later form of the name (Oleshky) is also related. In 1711–1728, Oleshky was the capital of the

Zaporizhian Host Zaporozhian Host (or Zaporizhian Sich) is a term for a military force inhabiting or originating from Zaporizhzhia, the territory beyond the rapids of the Dnieper River in what is Central Ukraine today, from the 15th to the 18th centuries. These in ...

under the protection of the

Crimean Khanate The Crimean Khanate ( crh, , or ), officially the Great Horde and Desht-i Kipchak () and in old European historiography and geography known as Little Tartary ( la, Tartaria Minor), was a Crimean Tatars, Crimean Tatar state existing from 1441 to ...

. In 1784, the settlement of Oleshky was established; by 1790, it became a part of the

Kinburn palanka Kinburn may refer to: Canada * Kinburn, Huron County, Ontario, a community in Central Huron Township *Kinburn, Carleton County, Ontario, a community in Ottawa Ukraine * Kinburn Peninsula, a peninsula that separates Dnieper-Bug Estuary from Black S ...

of the Black-Sea Cossacks. In 1802, the settlement was granted town status and became the seat of an

uyezd An uezd (also spelled uyezd; rus, уе́зд, p=ʊˈjest), or povit in a Ukrainian context ( uk, повіт), or Kreis in Baltic-German context, was a type of administrative subdivision of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Russian Empire, and the ea ...

Taurida Governorate The Taurida Governorate (russian: Тавріическая губернія, modern spelling , ; crh, script=Latn, Tavrida guberniyası, ) or the Government of Taurida, was a historical governorate of the Russian Empire. It included the Crime ...

. In 1928, the town was given the name Tsiurupynsk after former Soviet Trade Minister and the chief of

Gosplan The State Planning Committee, commonly known as Gosplan ( rus, Госплан, , ɡosˈpɫan), was the agency responsible for central economic planning in the Soviet Union. Established in 1921 and remaining in existence until the dissolution of ...

Alexander Tsiurupa Alexander Dmitrievich Tsiurupa (russian: Алекса́ндр Дми́триевич Цюру́па, October 1, ( O.S. 19 September) 1870 — May 8, 1928) was a Bolshevik leader, Soviet statesman and Party figure. Biography Alexander Tsiurupa ...

, who was born in the town. Oleshky was occupied by German troops on September 10, 1941. In late September or early October 1941, some 800 Jews from Oleshky and its vicinity were murdered at a site east of the town. In 1943, the children of mixed marriages between Jews and non-Jews were murdered in Oleshky. On 21 November, 2007, the town council adopted resolution No.296 to restore the name Oleshky. The town council deputies and district councils, as well as the local

Cossacks The Cossacks , es, cosaco , et, Kasakad, cazacii , fi, Kasakat, cazacii , french: cosaques , hu, kozákok, cazacii , it, cosacchi , orv, коза́ки, pl, Kozacy , pt, cossacos , ro, cazaci , russian: казаки́ or ...

, wrote a letter to then

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Victor 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 ...

requesting that the petition be carried out. It was not until 19 May, 2016 that the

Verkhovna Rada 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 ...

adopted the resolution to rename Tsiurupynsk as Oleshky and conform to the law prohibiting names of Communist origin after a 9-year campaign by the town's council and residents. On 24 February, 2022, Oleshky was occupied by Russian forces in 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 14 April, 2022, Russian forces removed the

flag of Ukraine The flag of Ukraine ( uk, Прапор України, Prapor Ukrainy) consists of equally sized horizontal bands of blue and yellow. The blue and yellow bicolour first appeared during the 1848 Spring of Nations in Lemberg, then part of the ...

from the town hall and replaced it with a

Russian flag The national flag of Russia (russian: Флаг России, Flag Rossii), also known as the ''State Flag of the Russian Federation'' (russian: Государственный флаг Российской Федерации, Gosudarstvenny fla ...

.https://ukranews.com/en/news/849847-invaders-raised-russian-flags-in-skadovsk-executive-committee-did-not-go-to-work

Gallery

File:Олешки завод минеральных вод.jpg, Mineral water plant File:Цюрупинськ, вулиця Східна.jpg, Residential blocks in Oleshky File:Олешки, зупинка.jpg, M14 highway passing through Oleshky

References

Notes

Sources

*Е. М. Поспелов (Ye. M. Pospelov). "Имена городов: вчера и сегодня (1917–1992). Топонимический словарь." (''City Names: Yesterday and Today (1917–1992). Toponymic Dictionary.'') Москва, "Русские словари", 1993.

External links

Brief history profile

Information about the city council
{{Use mdy dates, date=February 2015 Cities in Kherson Oblast Zaporozhian Sich historic sites Dneprovsky Uyezd Russification Cities of district significance in Ukraine City name changes in Ukraine Former Soviet toponymy in Ukraine Populated places on the Dnieper in Ukraine