Staromlynivka ( uk, Старомлинівка; russian: link=no, Старомлыновка, Staromlynovka) is a village in

Volnovakha Raion Volnovakha Raion ( uk, Волноваський район, ) is one of the 18 administrative raions (a ''district'') of Donetsk Oblast, located in southeastern Ukraine. The administrative center of the district is located in the city of Volnov ...

(

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

) in

Donetsk Oblast The Donetsk Oblast ( ukr, Донецька область, Donetska oblast, ), also referred to as Donechchyna ( ukr, Донеччина, links=no), is an oblast of eastern Ukraine. It is Ukraine's most populous province, with around 4.1 mill ...

of eastern

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 south of the town of

Velyka Novosilka Velyka Novosilka ( uk, Велика Новосілка) is an urban-type settlement in Volnovakha Raion, Donetsk Oblast (province) of Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-la ...

. Before 1946, it was known as Staryi Kermenchyk ( uk, Старий Керменчик; russian: Старый Керменчик, Stary Kermenchik). It is located in the floodplain of the

Mokri Yaly The Mokri Yaly ( ukr, Мокрі Яли; russian: Мокрые Ялы) is a river in western Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. From its headwaters in Volnovakha, it flows roughly west and northwest to its confluence with the Vovcha river, which forms part ...

river. It is the administrative center of

Staromlynivka rural hromada Staromlynivka rural hromada () is a hromada of Ukraine, located in Volnovakha Raion, Donetsk Oblast. Its administrative center is the village Staromlynivka. The hromada contains 14 settlements, including 11 villages: And 3 rural-type settle ...

, 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'' (communities) of Ukraine.

History

The village was founded as Staryi Kermenchyk in 1779 by

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...

from

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

. The "Kermenchyk" part of the name comes from the word () from the Urum language, a Turkic language spoken by some Pontic Greeks. The word means "small mill", and the modern name "Staromlynivka" is a

calque In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language wh ...

of this Urum-derived name into Ukrainian. In 1886, Staryi Kermenchyk was recorded as being the center of inside Mariupol uyezd. The

volost Volost ( rus, во́лость, p=ˈvoləsʲtʲ; ) was a traditional administrative subdivision in Eastern Europe. In earlier East Slavic history, ''volost'' was a name for the territory ruled by the knyaz, a principality; either as an absolute ...

contained one other village, Krasna Poliana. In the 20th century, Staryi Kermenchyk was a scene of fighting during the

Russian Civil War , date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...

. It was the center of (known as Staro-Kermenchik Raion until 1946) from 1923 until 1959. By 1926, Staryi Kermenchyk still had one of the largest Greek communities in Ukraine, as part of the larger community in the area between

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 ...

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 ...

. It was renamed to Staromlynivka in 1946. In May 1964, a local history museum was opened in Staromlynivka.

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

The village was captured by

Russian forces The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (, ), commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the Military, military forces of Russia. In terms of Active duty, active-duty personnel, they are the List of countries by number of milita ...

in March 13, 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. During the

2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive In early June 2023, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukraine launched a counteroffensive against Russian forces occupying its territory with a long-term goal of breaching the frontlines. Efforts were made in many directions, primarily ...

, Russian-installed occupation official Vladimir Rogov reported that Ukraine was aiming to take back control of the town.

Demographics

The settlement had 3,373 inhabitants in 2001. The native language distribution as of the Ukrainian Census of the same year was: *

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 ...

: 16.04% *Russian: 82.12% * Greek: 0.8% *

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

: 0.24% * Belarusian: 0.15% * Moldovan (

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

): 0.03%

Gallery

Staromlynovka P1060731.JPG, An exhibition in the local history museum Staromlynovka P1060752.JPG, Gateway of the local history museum Staromlynovka P1060765.JPG, An old Greek house

References

External links