Kiev Oblast
Kiev Oblast, also written as
Kyiv Oblast (,
translit. ''Kyivs'ka oblast
; also referred to as Kyivshchyna
- ') is an
oblast (province) in central
Ukraine.
The
administrative center of the oblast is the city of
Kiev (, or Kyiv), also the capital of Ukraine. Despite being located in the center of the Kiev Oblast, and hosting the governing bodies of the oblast, Kiev itself is a self-governing city with cpecial status and not under oblast jurisdiction. The current Head of the Kiev Oblast State Administration is
Vira Ulianchenko.
The oblast was created as part of the
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic on
February 27,
1932.
The current borders of the oblast were last set following the
Chernobyl accident. Administrative oversight of the new city of
Slavutych, which was constructed as part of the
Chernihiv Oblast, was then transferred to the Kiev Oblast (see
Chornobyl zone below).
Historical administrative units that later became the territory of the Oblast included the
Kijow Voivodship under the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and
Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Kiev
Guberniya under the
Russian Empire. The northern part of the oblast belongs to the historical region of
Polesia ().
The oblast is equally split between the both banks of
Dnieper River north and south of Kiev. Other significant rivers in the oblast are Dnieper's
tributaries:
Pripyat (
Prypiat) (R),
Desna (L),
Teteriv (R),
Irpin' (R),
Ros' (R) and
Trubizh (L).
|
Detailed map of Kiev Oblast |
The oblast is subdivided into 25
raions (administrative districts). It consists of
25 cities, 30 towns, and more than 1000 villages.
The area of the oblast is 28,100 km² (approximately 35 times the area of Kiev city). The current estimated population (excluding Kiev) is around 1.8 millions (as of
2006).
The "exclaves"
The municipality of
Slavutych is located within the borders of the neighboring
Chernihiv Oblast on the eastern bank of the
Dnieper river and the municipality has no common border with the Kiev Oblast. Still, Slavutych is administrated by the Kiev Oblast authorities (being a kind of administrative
exclave).
Similarly, the town of
Kotsiubynske, which is located within the borders of the
Kiev city (which is itself surrounded by the Kiev Oblast), officially belongs to the Kiev Oblast.
Chornobyl zone
The north-western end of the oblast is a part of the
Zone of alienation due to the
radioactive contamination caused by the
Chernobyl (Chornobyl) nuclear reactor accident. The largest cities within zone are
Chornobyl and
Prypyat, which are now abandoned (see
ghost towns). The city of
Slavutych was built outside of the zone to host evacuated residents of Prypyat and personnel of the zone installations.
Important cities
*
Bila Tserkva*
Brovary*
Boryspil*
Fastiv*
Irpin'-
Bucha-
Vorzel (these neighboring settlements are practically merged into a
conurbation)
*
Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyi*
Slavutych*
Tarashcha*
Vasylkiv*
VyshhorodSee also Kiev or KyivMost of Ukraine's oblasts are named after their
capital cities, officially referred to as "oblast centers". The name of each oblast is a
relative adjective, formed by adding a feminine
suffix to the name of respective center city: Kiev
' is the center of the Kyivs'ka oblast (Kiev Oblast). Most oblasts are also sometimes referred to in a feminine noun form, following the convention of traditional regional place names, ending with the suffix "-shchyna", as is the case with the Kiev Oblast, Kyivshchyna
.
Kiev is the traditional English name for the administrative center of the Kiev Oblast, but the Ukrainianized versions (transliterated from the Ukrainian language) Kyiv
and Kyiv Oblast'' are sometimes also used.
*
Subdivisions of Ukraine*
Kiev, the capital of Ukraine
*
Zhytomyr Oblast, the oblast to the west of Kiev Oblast
*
Cherkasy Oblast, the oblast to the south of Kiev Oblast
*
Chernihiv Oblast, the oblast to the east of Kiev Oblast
*
Belarus, a country to the north of Kiev Oblast
*
Official website of Kiev Oblast Administration* /
Wormwood Forest - a
commercial site, however, containing free-access Chernobyl-related maps and photogallery
