Slobozhanske (, ) is a city in

Chuhuiv Raion Chuhuiv Raion () is a raion (district) in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. Its administrative center is the city of Chuhuiv. Population: On 18 July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, the number of raions of Kharkiv Oblast was reduce ...

Kharkiv Oblast Kharkiv Oblast (, ), also referred to as Kharkivshchyna (), is an oblast (province) in eastern Ukraine. Kharkiv borders Luhansk Oblast to the east, Donetsk Oblast to the southeast, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast to the southwest, Poltava Oblast to the w ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. It is located in the valley of the

Donets The Seversky Donets () or Siverskyi Donets (), usually simply called the Donets (), is a river on the south of the East European Plain. It originates in the Central Russian Upland, north of Belgorod, flows south-east through Ukraine (Kharkiv ...

, on its left bank. Slobozhanske hosts the administration of Slobozhanske urban hromada, one of the

hromada In Ukraine, a hromada () is the main type of municipality and the third level Administrative divisions of Ukraine, local self-government in Ukraine. The current hromadas were established by the Cabinet of ministers of Ukraine, Government of Uk ...

s of Ukraine. Population:

History

Until 4 February 2016 the settlement was known as Komsomolske. On that day,

Verkhovna Rada The Verkhovna Rada ( ; VR), officially the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is the unicameralism, unicameral parliament of Ukraine. It consists of 450 Deputy (legislator), deputies presided over by a speaker. The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovn ...

adopted a decision to rename Komsomolske to Slobozhanske according to the law prohibiting names of Communist origin. The settlement filed a case stating that the opinions of the inhabitants have been ignored; the court decided against the settlement and kept the new name. Until 18 July 2020, Slobozhanske belonged to Zmiiv Raion. The raion was abolished in July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions in Kharkiv Oblast to seven. The area of Zmiiv Raion was merged into Chuhuiv Raion. Until 26 January 2024, Slobozhanske was designated

urban-type settlement Urban-type settlement, abbreviated: ; , abbreviated: ; ; ; ; . is an official designation for lesser urbanized settlements, used in several Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Eastern European countries. The term was primarily used in the So ...

. On this day, a new law entered into force which abolished this status, and Slobozhanske became a rural settlement. A community discussion in 2023–2024 has concluded that Slobozhanske should become a city and should be renamed to Slobozhansk. On 7 May 2024, the draft resolution on granting Slobozhanske city status was registered. On 13 March 2025, the Verkhovna Rada granted the city status to Slobozhanske.

Economy

Transportation

Slobozhanske railway station, close to the settlement, is on the railway connecting

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

and Lyman via

Izium Izium or Izyum (, ; ) is a city on the Donets River in Kharkiv Oblast, eastern Ukraine that serves as the administrative center of Izium Raion and Izium urban hromada. It is about southeast of the city of Kharkiv, the oblast's administrative cen ...

. There is some passenger traffic. Slobozhanske is connected by roads with Kharkiv and Izium. Zmiivska thermal power plant is located here.

References

{{Kharkiv Oblast Cities in Kharkiv Oblast