Vilcha () is a Ukrainian

rural settlement The definition of a rural settlement depends on the country, in some countries, a rural settlement is any settlement in the areas defined as rural by a governmental office, e.g., by the national census bureau. This may include even rural towns. ...

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 ...

(prior to 2020 in

Vovchansk Raion Vovchansk Raion () was a raion (district) in Kharkiv Oblast of Ukraine. Its administrative center was the town of Vovchansk. The raion was abolished on 18 July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raio ...

) in

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 ...

.Vilcha
on

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 ...

website It belongs to

Vovchansk urban hromada Vovchansk (, ; ) is a destroyed List of cities in Ukraine, city in Chuhuiv Raion, Kharkiv Oblast, northeastern Ukraine. It hosts the administration of . The Vovcha (Donets), Vovcha river, a tributary of the Donets, Donets river, runs through th ...

, 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: Until 18 July 2020, Vilcha belonged to

. The raion was abolished in July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Kharkiv Oblast to seven. The area of Vovchansk Raion was merged into Chuhuiv Raion. On 26 January 2024, a new law entered into force which abolished the status of uran-type settlement, and Vilcha became a rural settlement.

History

The

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 ...

, sometimes named ''New Vilcha'', was founded in 1993, when the 2,000 residents of the ''Old'' Vilcha (709 km far, in

Kyiv Oblast Kyiv Oblast (, ), also called Kyivshchyna (, ), is an Administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in central and northern Ukraine. It surrounds, but does not include, the city of Kyiv, which is administered as a city with special sta ...

), located 45 km from the

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP) is a nuclear power plant undergoing decommissioning. ChNPP is located near the abandoned city of Pripyat in northern Ukraine, northwest of the city of Chernobyl, from the Belarus–Ukraine border, a ...

, moved here in the period 1993-1996. Immediately after the accident of 1986, the "

Exclusion Zone An exclusion zone is a geographic area in which specific activities are prohibited by an authority. The United States Department of Defense defines an exclusion zone is a territory where an authority prohibits specific activities in a specific g ...

" was recognized only in the area within a radius of 30 km from the nuclear plant. The idea of creating a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

built up with typical cottage-type houses where people were settled so that their relatives were next to them ("

dachas A dacha (Belarusian, Ukrainian and rus, дача, p=ˈdatɕə, a=ru-dacha.ogg) is a seasonal or year-round second home, often located in the exurbs of post-Soviet countries, including Russia. A cottage (, ') or shack serving as a family's main ...

") was conceived back in 1989. The

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

authorities presented Vilcha as a showcase for the concept. The center of the village was to be dedicated to an industry along with a laundromat, a branch of the Kharkov Radio Plant, a hotel, a youth sports and entertainment complex with 400 seats, greenhouses and a swimming pool.

Russo-Ukrainian War

During the initial eastern campaign of the 2022

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 ...

, the village was occupied 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 ...

during the first days the conflict. It was retaken by Ukrainian forces later that year during the

2022 Kharkiv counteroffensive On September 6, 2022, the Armed Forces of Ukraine launched a major counteroffensive against the Russian military during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As Ukraine announced the start of the 2022 Kherson counteroffensive, Kherson counteroffensi ...

Russian forces The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military of Russia. They are organized into three service branches—the Ground Forces, Navy, and Aerospace Forces—two independent combat ...

began combat operations in the area of Vilcha once again on 10 May 2024 during the

2024 Kharkiv offensive On 10 May 2024, the Russian Armed Forces began an offensive operation in Ukraine's Kharkiv Oblast, shelling and attempting to breach the defenses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the direction of Vovchansk and Kharkiv. ''The Guardian'' reported ...

Geography

Located 6 km south of

Vovchansk Vovchansk (, ; ) is a destroyed city in Chuhuiv Raion, Kharkiv Oblast, northeastern Ukraine. It hosts the administration of . The Vovcha river, a tributary of the Donets river, runs through the city. Vovchansk had a population of However, th ...

, and not too far from the borders with the

n Oblast of Belgorod; Vilcha it is served by the provincial highway T2104, and by Harbuzivka railway station, on

Belgorod Belgorod (, ) is a city that serves as the administrative center of Belgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the Seversky Donets River, approximately north of the border with Ukraine. It has a population of It was founded in 1596 as a defensiv ...

Kupiansk Kupiansk or Kupyansk (, ; , ) is a city in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Kupiansk Raion. It is also an important railroad junction for the oblast. Kupiansk hosts the administration of Kupiansk urban hromada, ...

line. The town is 20 km far from

Bilyi Kolodiaz Bilyi Kolodiaz (; ) is a rural settlement in Chuhuiv Raion, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. It is located at the northeast of the oblast, in the drainage basin of the Donets. Bilyi Kolodiaz belongs to Vovchansk urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukr ...

, 26 from Staryi Saltiv, 52 from

Velykyi Burluk Velykyi Burluk () is a rural settlement in Ukraine, in Kupiansk Raion of Kharkiv Oblast. It hosts the administration of Velykyi Burluk settlement hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. The population of the settlement is . The settlement was ...

, 56 from Belgorod and 71 from

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

References

External links

{{Authority control Rural settlements in Chuhuiv Raion Populated places established in 1993 Aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster

History

Russo-Ukrainian War

Geography

See also

References

External links