There are 18[a] populated places in the Crimean peninsula that are recognized as having the status of cities.[citation needed] The territory of Crimea, including Sevastopol, has been disputed between Russia and Ukraine since Russia's covert invasion and internationally unrecognised annexation of the peninsula on 18 March 2014.[citation needed] The region is recognised by most countries as Ukraine's Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol as one of Ukraine's cities with special status while since its annexation, the region has been de facto governed by Russia as the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol as a city of federal importance.[citation needed] As of 2014, the largest city on the peninsula by population was Sevastopol, which had a recorded population of 393,304 people according to Russia's post-annexation census of the region while the peninsula's second largest city and the largest city outside Sevastopol was Simferopol, which had a recorded population of 332,317 according to the census. The least populous city on the peninsula was Alupka, with a recorded population of 7,771 in Russia's 2014 census.
| Cities in Crimea | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | Crimean peninsula |
| Number | 18[a] (as of 2014) |
| Populations | 7,771–393,304 |
In Ukraine, city status (Ukrainian: місто, romanized: misto) is granted by the country's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, to settlements of 10,000 people or more or to settlements of historical or regional importance.[3][4] Following the occupation and annexation of Crimea, Russian officials recognised and maintained the existing status of the peninsula's 18 cities.[citation needed] In 2019, Russian officials granted the settlement Balaklava, located in Sevastopol's Balaklava urban district, the status of a city although still keeping it as part of Sevastopol.[5][6] Due to the ongoing dispute between Russia and Ukraine on the region's status, the new city status is not recognised by Ukraine as well as most of the international community, who consider Russia's annexation and governance of the peninsula illegal.[1][2]
Following the passing of decommunization laws, the city Krasnoperekopsk was renamed in 2016 to Yany Kapu (its original Crimean Tatar name prior to the community's Soviet era repression) for the former name's connection to people, places, events, and organizations associated with the Soviet Union.[7][8][full citation needed] Two cities on the peninsula (Kerch and Sevastopol) were awarded by Soviet officials with the honorary title Hero City of Ukraine in 1973 and 1965, respectively, for their resistance during the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II; the titles were renewed in 2022 by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.[9][10]
Administrative divisions
editFollowing Ukraine's independence and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the region's existing subdivisions were maintained, with the autonomous republic divided into 14 districts (raions) and 11 city municipalities (cities of regional significance). The territory of Sevastopol, which was governed separately from the rest of Crimea, also maintained its existing divisions; Sevastopol was divided into the four urban districts of Gagarin, Lenin, Nakhimov, and Balaklava. On 17 July 2020, the Verkhovna Rada passed a major administrative reform in Ukraine, decreasing the total number of raions throughout the country from 490 to 136 enlarged raions.[11] In Crimea, all of the autonomous republic's city municipalities, four of its raions, and parts of Sevastopol's federal territory (most notably the city Inkerman) were merged into ten reformed raions.[12][13][14][full citation needed] The ten enlarged raions that make up the territory of the autonomous republic are Bakhchysarai, Bilohirsk, Dzhankoi, Yevpatoria, Kerch, Kurman,[b] Perekop,[c] Simferopol, Feodosia, and Yalta raion. Due to the region's continued occupation since 2014, the new raions have remained solely de jure and Russian officials continue to use the pre-reform administrative divisions.[citation needed]
For Sevastopol, following its occupation and annexation, Russian officials imposed its municipal framework on the city. Under Ukrainian law, urban districts generally have both administrative and municipal status while under Russian law, urban districts only have administrative status, with municipal powers typically given to municipal okrugs, which are subdivisions of urban districts. Russian officials maintained the four existing urban districts as solely administrative areas while further dividing each district into a total of nine municipal okrugs (excluding Inkerman, which remained within the city's Balaklavsky District but was not included in the boundaries of the okrugs). The municipal okrugs of each district are Balaklavsky, Orlinovsky, and Ternovsky for Balaklavsky District, Gagarinsky for Gagarinsky District, Leninsky for Leninsky District, and Andreyevsky, Kachinsky, Nakhimovsky, and Verkhnesadovsky for Nakhimovsky District.
List of cities
editGallery
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Sevastopol
Simferopol
Kerch
Yevpatoria
Yalta
Feodosia
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ a b Due to the continued recognition of Crimea as sovereign territory of Ukraine and the non-recognition of Russia's jurisdiction over it by the United Nations General Assembly and most of the international community,[1][2] the city status granted by Russia to Balaklava is largely not recognized.
- ^ Previously known as Krasnohvardiiske Raion in Ukraine prior to 2016. Due to the occupation of the raion by Russian forces at the time of the renaming, the new name has only de jure status.
- ^ Previously known as Krasnoperekopsk Raion in Ukraine prior to 2016. Due to the occupation of the raion by Russian forces at the time of the renaming, the new name has only de jure status.
- ^ a b Includes population figures for Balaklava and excludes population of Inkerman city.
References
edit- ^ a b "Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 27 March 2014" (PDF). United Nations Department of General Assembly and Conference Management. 1 April 2014. Retrieved 2024-06-27.
- ^ a b "Ukraine's president pledges to 'return' Russia-annexed Crimea". Al Jazeera. 23 Aug 2021. Retrieved 2024-06-27.
- ^ Povalyaev, Ivan (2023-07-31). Дерадянизація: в Україні скасували смт та міста районного чи обласного значення [De-Sovietization: Ukraine abolishes urban-type settlements and cities of district or regional significance]. umoloda.kyiv.ua (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 2024-05-20. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ Закон України від 28.07.2023 р. № 3285-IX “Про порядок вирішення окремих питань адміністративно-територіального устрою України” [Law of Ukraine of 28.07.2023 № 3285-IX "On the Procedure for Resolving Certain Issues of the Administrative and Territorial Structure of Ukraine"]. document.vobu.ua (in Ukrainian). 2023-10-26. Archived from the original on 2024-05-20. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ Балаклава официально стала городом [Balaklava officially became a city]. Argumenty Nedeli – Krym (in Russian). 7 October 2019. Retrieved 2024-06-27.
- ^ Закон города Севастополя от 23.07.2019 № 518-ЗС: "О внесении изменений в Закон города Севастополя от 3 июня 2014 года № 19-ЗС "Об административно-территориальном устройстве города Севастополя" [Law of the city of Sevastopol from 23.07.2019 № 518-ZS: "On Amendments to the Law of the city of Sevastopol from 3 June 2014 № 19-ZS "On the administrative-territorial structure of the city of Sevastopol"]. www.pravo.gov.ru (in Russian). Federal Protective Service of the Russian Federation. 24 July 2019. Retrieved 2024-06-27.
- ^ Про засудження комуністичного та націонал-соціалістичного (нацистського) тоталітарних режимів в Україні та заборону пропаганди їхньої символіки [On the condemnation of communist and national socialist (Nazi) totalitarian regimes in Ukraine and the prohibition of propaganda of their symbols]. Official Website of the Parliament of Ukraine (in Ukrainian). July 27, 2023. Archived from the original on 2024-05-26. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ Понад 50 тисяч вулиць змінили назви впродовж 2016 року [Over 50 thousand streets changed their names in 2016]. www.kmu.gov.ua (in Ukrainian). December 27, 2016. Archived from the original on 2024-05-20. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ Mayorov, Maksym (25 March 2022). Міф "Місто-Герой" [Myth of the "Hero City"]. Istorychna Pravda (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2024-06-27.
- ^ Указ Президента України №171/2023: Питання почесної відзнаки "Місто-герой України" [Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 171/2023: About the award "Hero City of Ukraine"]. Office of the President of Ukraine (in Ukrainian). 21 March 2023. Retrieved 2024-06-27.
- ^ Про утворення та ліквідацію районів [On the formation and liquidation of districts]. Official Website of the Parliament of Ukraine (in Ukrainian). 17 July 2020. Retrieved 2024-01-28.
- ^ State Statistics Service of Ukraine. Кількість адміністративно-територіальних одиниць за регіонами України на 1 січня 2016 року* [Number of administrative-territorial units by regions of Ukraine as of 1 January 2016*]. ukrstat.gov.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2024-06-21.
- ^ Povalyaev, Ivan (2023-07-31). Дерадянизація: в Україні скасували смт та міста районного чи обласного значення [De-Sovietization: Ukraine abolishes urban-type settlements and cities of district or regional significance]. umoloda.kyiv.ua (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 2024-05-20. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ Про утворення та ліквідацію районів [On the formation and liquidation of districts]. Official Website of the Parliament of Ukraine (in Ukrainian). 17 July 2020. Retrieved 2024-06-21.
- ^ Кількість та територіальне розміщення населення України [The number and territorial distribution of the population of Ukraine] (RAR). 2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua (in Ukrainian). State Statistics Service of Ukraine. 5 December 2001. Retrieved 2024-06-22. To access the statistics, scroll down to the section titled "Кількість та територіальне розміщення населення України" (transl. Number and territorial distribution of the population of Ukraine). Then, click on the linked text "Публікація у електронному вигляді" (transl. Publication in electronic form). This will download the statistics as a RAR file from which it can be accessed using RAR file converters such as 7-Zip.
External links
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- Results of the 2014 Crimean census (in Russian)