Reni (, ; ) is a small

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

in Izmail Raion,

Odesa Oblast Odesa Oblast (), also referred to as Odeshchyna (Одещина), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of southwestern Ukraine, located along the northern coast of the Black Sea. Its administrative centre is the city of Ode ...

, southern

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 hosts the administration of Reni 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. Reni is located in the

Bessarabia Bessarabia () is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Bessarabia lies within modern-day Moldova, with the Budjak region covering the southern coa ...

n historic district of

Budjak Budjak, also known as Budzhak, is a historical region that was part of Bessarabia from 1812 to 1940. Situated along the Black Sea, between the Danube and Dniester rivers, this #Ethnic groups and demographics, multi-ethnic region covers an area ...

and on the left bank of the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

. The settlement was founded around 1548, acquiring city status in 1821. Population: There are six schools, one filial branch of the Oles Honchar Dnipro National University, and three Ukrainian Orthodox church buildings. Reni is also home to the Light of the World Church.

History

Until July 18, 2020, Reni was the administrative center of Reni Raion. The raion was abolished in July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of

raion A raion (also spelt rayon) is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet states. The term is used for both a type of subnational entity and a division of a city. The word is from the French (meaning 'honeycomb, department'), and is c ...

s of Odesa Oblast to seven. The area of Reni Raion was merged into Izmail Raion.

2023 Reni port attack

On the night between July 23 and 24, 2023, during the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

and the nationwide missile attacks, the port of Reni was attacked by

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, being struck by multiple suicide drones. The port of Reni is an internal port of

, laying on the

river which forms Ukraine's

border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

with

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, the port itself lying half a kilometer away from the Romanian bank of the Danube. Multiple Romanian sailors in the waters around the port caught the bombings on camera, and a Romanian ship was damaged during the assault. Similar attacks targeted the nearby ports of

Izmail Izmail (, ; ; , or ; ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality on the Danube river in Odesa Oblast in south-western Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Izmail Raion, one of seven distr ...

and

Kiliia Kiliia or Kilia (, ; ; ) is a city in Izmail Raion, Odesa Oblast Odesa Oblast (), also referred to as Odeshchyna (Одещина), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of southwestern Ukraine, located along the northern ...

, all laying on the Danube. The government of the neighbouring country allowed numerous ships to immediately cross the border.

Demographics

The city of Reni had 20,761 inhabitants in 2001, including 6,694 ethnic Ukrainians (32.24%), 6,126 self-identified Moldovans (Romanians) (29.51%), 5,589 ethnic Russians (26.92%), 1,012 Bulgarians (4.87%), 736 Gagauz (1.81%) and 22 self-identified Romanians (0.11%). There was a decrease in the population of the city of Reni from 20,761 inhabitants in 2001,The Ukrainian census of 2001, ethnicity/nationality data by localities, at http://pop-stat.mashke.org/ukraine-ethnic2001.htm to 17,736 in 2022, and a reduction of the raion's population from 40,680 in 2001 to 35,954. The city of Reni was mostly (70.54%) Russophone, 13.37% Moldovan/Romanian-speaking, 12.5% Ukrainian-speaking, 1.52% Gagauz-speaking and 1.33% Bulgarian-speaking. In 2001, Reni Raion, in its boundaries at that time, including the city of Reni, had 40,680 inhabitants in 2001, including 19,938 Moldovans (49.01%), 7,196 ethnic Ukrainians (17.69%), 6,136 Russians (15.08%), 3,439 Bulgarians (8.45%), 736 Gagauz (1.81%) and 36 Romanians (0.09%). The current Reni urban hromada, whose boundaries are identical with those of the former Reni Raion, had 40,680 inhabitants in 2001, out of which 16,639 spoke Romanian (40.9%), 15,411 spoke Russian (37.88%), 2,955 spoke Ukrainian (7.26%), 2,751 spoke Gagauz (6.76%), and 2,688 spoke Bulgarian (6.61%).The Ukrainian census of 2001, language data by localities, at https://socialdata.org.ua/projects/mova-2001/ In 1897, the ethnic make-up, by mother tongue, was 37.6% Moldovan/Romanian, 19.8% Ukrainian, 17.1% Russian, 10.5% Jewish, 9.4% Bulgarian, 2.0% Greek, 1.5% Turkish, 1.1% Polish.

Gallery

File:Svobody Ploshcha, Reni 03.jpg, Freedom Square File:Memorial in Reni 06.jpg, Grave of the soldiers File:Regional History Museum in Reni 01.jpg, Regional History Museum File:Cathedral in Reni 03.jpg, Ascension of the Lord Cathedral File:Reni 04.jpg, Traditional houses in Reni File:Reni marine port 03.jpg, Reni Commercial Seaport File:Sts. Constantine and Helena church in Reni 02.jpg, Sts. Constantine and Helena Church

Notable people

* Dumitru Arabadji (born 1972), Moldovan football manager * Maksym Braharu (born 2002), Ukrainian footballer * Pavel Cebanu (born 1955), Moldovan soccer player * Yevhen Deidei (born 1987), Ukrainian politician and lieutenant colonel * Alexander Deutsch (1899–1986), Soviet astronomer * Valeriu Graur (1940–2012), Soviet Moldavian dissident and Moldovan politician * Vitaliy Pushkutsa (born 1974), Ukrainian footballer * Victor Zâmbrea (1924–2000), Moldovan painter

References

External links

* {{Authority control Populated places on the Danube Port cities and towns in Ukraine Port cities of the Black Sea Cities of district significance in Ukraine 1548 establishments in the Ottoman Empire Izmailsky Uyezd Ismail County Cities in Izmail Raion Populated places in Reni urban hromada Market towns in Moldavia