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Volnovakha (Ukrainian and Russian: Волноваха, Ukrainian: [woɫnoˈwɑxɐ] , Russian: [vəɫnɐˈvaxə]; Greek: Βολνοβάχα) is a city in Donetsk Oblast, eastern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Volnovakha Raion within the oblast. As of January 2022, it had a population of 21,166.[1][2]
Volnovakha
Волноваха | |
|---|---|
 Palace of Culture | |
 Flag  Seal | |
  Volnovakha  Volnovakha | |
| Coordinates: 47°36′08″N 37°29′31″E / 47.60222°N 37.49194°E | |
| Country |  Ukraine |
| Oblast |  Donetsk |
| Raion |  Volnovakha |
| Hromada | Volnovakha urban |
| Founded | 1881 |
| City status | 1938 |
| Area | |
• Total | 21 km2 (8 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 271 m (889 ft) |
| Population (2022) | |
• Total | 21,166 |
| Website | www.volnovaha.net (archive) |
 | |
The train station is a railway hub. It serves the only onshore rail line between Donetsk and Russia to the north-east and east, and Zaporizhzhia Oblast and Crimea to the west and south-west, and the only rail line south to Mariupol.
In February and March 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many of its buildings were damaged or destroyed. The governor of the region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said that 90% of the city's critical infrastructure was destroyed.[3]
History
editPre-founding
editThe site of modern Volnovakha was inhabited during the Bronze Age, as is evidenced by archaeological excavations in the northeast part of the city. A burial in a stone tomb has been uncovered, and stone babas indicate the presence of nomadic peoples in the area.[4]
Founding and early history
editVolnovakha was founded as a railway station in the Russian Empire in 1881.[5] Its name is derived from that of the Mokra Volnovakha river, which originates nearby.[4] During the first two decades of the station's existence, it was a minor stop on the railway from Olenivka to Mariupol. It transported mainly bread and agricultural crops. As the Port of Mariupol was expanded and factories were built in Mariupol, cargo transit through Volnovakha increased significantly. This forced the administration of the railway to introduce optimizations, establishing a telegraph line in 1891 and introducing a second track in 1900. However, the actual civilian settlement around the station grew slowly. By the beginning of the 1900s, there were only 45 houses and 250 people living in Volnovakha.[6]
The station became a railway hub in 1904, contributing to its development and that of the settlement growing around it.[4] The new rail went through Oleksandrivsk (today Zaporizhzhia City) and Polohy to Volnovakha. A school for children was opened in 1905, and the number of workers at the station increased to 400 by 1908.[6]
During the Russian Civil War, Volnovakha was the scene of fighting multiple times due to its strategic significance as a rail hub. On 18–20 April 1918, it was the site of battles between the Bolsheviks and the Central Powers during the latter's 1918 invasion of Ukraine. The Central Powers took over the station and village on 22 April. Volnovakha served as a base for the German 15th Division and the Austro-Hungarian 59th Division starting in June 1918. It was captured by soldiers loyal to the anti-communist White Movement in early December 1918, and changed hands several more times.[6] It was the location of battles in 1919 and 1920 during the Ukrainian War of Independence.[5] Eventually, the victorious Bolsheviks captured Volnovakha along with the rest of Ukraine and established the communist Soviet Union on much of the territory of the former Russian Empire.[6]
In the Soviet Union
edit
Volnovakha received urban-type settlement status in 1923,[4] and was assigned to Mariupol Okruha. In January 1923, Volnovakha had a population of 872 people.[6] Development of the railway station continued throughout the 1920s and 1930s.[7] Volnovakha received city status in 1938.[8] In 1939, the city's population was 15,261 people.[7]
During World War II, Volnovakha was occupied by Nazi Germany from 11 October 1941 to 10 September 1943.[4][7] According to official Soviet sources, during the occupation the Nazis murdered about one hundred Soviet citizens, including thirty-five communists and the head of the collective farm. 1,000 Soviet citizens were kidnapped to Germany for forced labor. Soviet sources also record heavy partisan resistance to the Nazi occupation, and say that the Soviet aviation repeatedly bombed Nazi ammunition warehouses and other military infrastructure in the occupied city.[7]
There was significant fighting in the area around Volnovakha during August and September 1943.[9] Eventually, Volnovakha was liberated by the Red Army on 10 September 1943, after fierce fighting on the Kalmius river. The Nazis destroyed much of the city behind them during their retreat.[7] Several units were given honorary titles after the battle in the city.[10][9] The city's infrastructure was slowly rebuilt in the post-war period.[7]
In 1977, a museum of local history was founded in Volnovakha. It contains many archaeological objects, and exhibits on local nature, the ancient history of the area, and the history of the development of Orthodox Christianity in the area.[11]
Russo-Ukrainian War
editDuring the war in Donbas, pro-Russian separatists captured the city in May 2014. The Ukrainian military recaptured it in July.[5] On 13 January 2015, 12 civilians were killed and 18 injured, after an attack on a passenger bus at a checkpoint in Buhas, a town north-east of Volnovakha.[12] A monument to those killed in the attack was unveiled on 13 January 2017.[13]
In May 2015, a community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate was registered in Volnovakha. They said that this had not been possible before, due to fear of the Viktor Yanukovych regime that had been recently deposed in the 2014 Revolution of Dignity.[14] In October 2015, a monument to Vladimir Lenin was demolished in Volnovakha as part of decommunization in Ukraine.
In 2018, a new church was opened in the city.[15]
During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces fought for control of the city and engaged in indiscriminate bombing of Volnovakha, shelling civilian areas.[16] The terror bombing of the cities violated international law and echoed tactics Russia had previously used on civilian targets in Syria.[17] Volnovakha was reported to be on the verge of humanitarian crisis on 28 February and almost destroyed by 1 March,[18] with around 90% of its buildings either damaged or destroyed.[19] Surviving residents were cut off from food, water, and electricity.[20] Following the assault, bodies lay uncollected in the streets.[17]
On 11 March, Russia claimed that forces of the Donetsk People's Republic had captured Volnovakha.[21] On 12 March, Euronews reported that much of the town was in ruins after the fighting.[22] On 1 April, Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of Donetsk Oblast, said that 90% of its critical infrastructure was destroyed.[3]
On 27 October 2023, Ukrainian prosecutors said that nine members of a Ukrainian family in occupied Volnovakha were murdered by Russian soldiers in their sleep. A few days prior, the family had refused to vacate their house to allow the soldiers to reside there.[23]
Economy
edit
Transport
editVolnovakha's main industry is railway transportation.[8] Volnovakha is a rail hub,[24] serving as the only onshore rail line between Donetsk and Russia to the north-east and east, and Zaporizhzhia Oblast and Crimea to the west and south-west.[25] It has the only rail line south to Mariupol.[26]
Other industries
editVolnovakha also has a metalworking industry and a building materials industry, which help serve the rail industry.[8]
Demographics
edit
|
|
As of 2001, Volnovakha had a population of 24,647 inhabitants. The town is home to a historic Ukrainian Greek minority. Today, three out of four residents are Ukrainians, roughly 20% are ethnic Russians and Greeks account for 2.5% of population. Smaller Belarusian and Armenian communities also dwell in the city.[5][27] Linguistically, Volnovakha is dominated by both the Ukrainian and Russian language. Over half of the town's population prefers to communicate in Russian, while 42% consider Ukrainian to be their first language.[28] As of the 2001 Ukrainian census, the exact ethnic and linguistic composition was as follows:[29]
Geography
editClimate
edit| Climate data for Volnovakha (1981–2010) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | −1.2 (29.8) |
−0.6 (30.9) |
5.3 (41.5) |
14.5 (58.1) |
21.1 (70.0) |
25.2 (77.4) |
27.8 (82.0) |
27.3 (81.1) |
21.1 (70.0) |
13.4 (56.1) |
4.9 (40.8) |
−0.1 (31.8) |
13.2 (55.8) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −4.0 (24.8) |
−4.0 (24.8) |
1.1 (34.0) |
9.1 (48.4) |
15.4 (59.7) |
19.5 (67.1) |
21.9 (71.4) |
21.3 (70.3) |
16.4 (61.5) |
8.6 (47.5) |
1.6 (34.9) |
−2.9 (26.8) |
8.6 (47.5) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −6.5 (20.3) |
−6.8 (19.8) |
−2.1 (28.2) |
4.7 (40.5) |
10.2 (50.4) |
14.5 (58.1) |
16.6 (61.9) |
16.0 (60.8) |
10.5 (50.9) |
4.8 (40.6) |
−1.0 (30.2) |
−5.3 (22.5) |
4.6 (40.3) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 52.2 (2.06) |
44.0 (1.73) |
49.0 (1.93) |
45.0 (1.77) |
52.1 (2.05) |
65.4 (2.57) |
55.0 (2.17) |
45.8 (1.80) |
42.9 (1.69) |
35.4 (1.39) |
49.8 (1.96) |
53.8 (2.12) |
590.4 (23.24) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 9.9 | 7.7 | 8.8 | 7.2 | 7.3 | 8.2 | 6.6 | 4.6 | 5.4 | 5.9 | 8.1 | 9.8 | 89.5 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 88.4 | 85.4 | 79.3 | 66.3 | 60.9 | 63.6 | 61.1 | 57.9 | 65.7 | 75.6 | 87.4 | 89.7 | 73.4 |
| Source: World Meteorological Organization[30] | |||||||||||||
Gallery
edit-
Local history museum -
Vasily Chapayev monument -
Train station
Notable people
edit- Illia Ponomarenko (born 1992), Ukrainian journalist and reporter[31]
- Serhiy Bolbat (born 1993), Ukrainian soccer player
References
edit- ^ a b Чисельність наявного населення України на 1 січня 2022 [Number of Present Population of Ukraine, as of January 1, 2022] (PDF) (in Ukrainian and English). Kyiv: State Statistics Service of Ukraine. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 July 2022.
- ^ "Ukraine: UN expert says war against multi-ethnic population must stop, calls for protection of all minorities". OHCHR. 16 March 2022. Archived from the original on 26 February 2023.
- ^ a b Kovalenko, Oksana; Spirin, Yevhen (5 April 2022). "'Russians want to make Donetsk oblast a big Mariupol'. The head of the oblast military administration Pavlo Kyrylenko tells how the occupiers erase cities with bombs ― an interview". babel.ua. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
- ^ a b c d e Бондар, Б. М.; Трифонова, Н. В. (2006). "Волноваха" (in Ukrainian). Інститут енциклопедичних досліджень НАН України. Retrieved 2023-10-31.
- ^ a b c d Roblin, Sebastien (9 November 2022). "Ukrainian veterans recall pivotal tank battle in Volnovakha". Forbes. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Волноваха, Волноваський район, Донецька область". Історія міст і сіл Української РСР (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2023-10-31.
- ^ a b c d e f "Волноваха, Волноваський район, Донецька область (продовження)". Історія міст і сіл Української РСР (in Russian). Retrieved 2023-10-31.
- ^ a b c "Volnovakha". www.encyclopediaofukraine.com. Retrieved 2023-10-31.
- ^ a b Loza, Dmitriy (1998-01-01). Fighting for the Soviet Motherland: Recollections from the Eastern Front. U of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-8032-2929-7.
- ^ Stalin, Joseph (1984). 1941-1944. Red Star Press.
- ^ Кудлай, С. С. (2006). "Волноваський краєзнавчий музей" (in Ukrainian). Інститут енциклопедичних досліджень НАН України. Retrieved 2023-10-31.
- ^ "Ten killed, 13 injured after shell hits bus at roadblock near Volnovakha – regional administration". Interfax-Ukraine. 13 January 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
- "Shell hits bus in eastern Ukraine, 10 killed: regional spokesman". Reuters. 13 January 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
- "Ten killed, 13 injured after shell hits bus at roadblock near Volnovakha". Kyiv Post. 13 January 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
- "Расстрел под Волновахой: террористы выпустили 40 снарядов Града". Liga News. 13 January 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
- "Серед загиблих в автобусі під Волновахою - 6 жінок і 4 чоловіків..." Golos.com. 13 January 2015. Archived from the original on 13 January 2015.
- "Кількість загиблих в результаті теракту під Волновахою збільшилася до 12, - МВС". RBK. 13 January 2015. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
- "Список погибших и раненых, пострадавших в результате террористического акта на пункте пропуска под г.Волновахой" (in Russian). ГУ МВД Украины в Донецкой Области. 14 January 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-07-12. Retrieved 2015-01-15.
- ^ "Monument to bus passengers killed in Grad attack unveiled in Volnovakha. PHOTOS". Censor.net. 2017-01-14. Retrieved 2017-01-14.
A monument to 12 bus passengers killed in a Grad attack on Jan. 13, 2015 has been inaugurated in Volnovakha.
- ^ "У Волновасі вперше з'явилася церква УПЦ Київського Патріархату". Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
- ^ "У Волновасі освятили храм, збудований Івано-Франківською архиєпархією". Archived from the original on 7 March 2022. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
- ^ Yaroslav Trofimov, Ukraine, Russia Agreement on Evacuating Mariupol Civilians Collapses, Wall Street Journal (5 March 2022).
- ^ a b Emma Graham-Harrison & Isobel Koshiw, '90% of houses are damaged': Russia's Syria-honed tactics lay waste Ukraine towns, The Guardian (4 March 2022).
- ^ "Russian invasion update: Volnovakha town on verge of humanitarian catastrophe". www.ukrinform.net. 27 February 2022. Retrieved 2022-03-01.
- "Head of Donetsk Regional State Administration: Volnovakha almost destroyed". Interfax-Ukraine. Retrieved 2022-03-01.
- Michelle Bachelet (2022-03-03). "Ukraine: High Commissioner cites "new and dangerous" threats to human rights". Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
- ^ Graham-Harrison, Emma (6 March 2022). "'Nowhere to go and nowhere to go back to': Life under fire in Ukraine". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
- ^ Diana Hodali, Mariupol and Volnovakha: Besieged cities appeal for help, Deutsche Welle (March 5, 2022).
- ^ "Russian-backed separatists capture Ukraine's Volnovakha - RIA". Reuters. 2022-03-11. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
- ^ "Heavy fighting leaves much of Volnovakha in ruins". Euronews. Associated Press. 12 March 2022. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
- ^ Nate Ostiller (30 October 2023). "Prosecutor's Office: Russian forces murder 9 family members in occupied Volnovakha". The Kyiv Independent. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
- ^ "Ukraine completes modernisation works on a key rail route". Railway PRO. 31 October 2019. Archived from the original on 12 March 2023.
- ^ "Shoigu in Ukraine. Battles for supply lines in Bakhmut and Vuhledar". The Insider. 8 November 2022.
Volnovakha ... from there runs the only railroad that connects Russia to Melitopol
- ^ "Metinvest is launching an alternative route for raw materials delivery to its production facilities in Mariupol". azovstal.metinvestholding.com. 6 April 2016. Archived from the original on 6 December 2022.
the Kamysh-Zarya – Volnovakha railway section, the only rail road connecting Mariupol to the rest of Ukraine
- ^ a b "Національний склад та рідна мова населення Донецької області. Розподіл постійного населення за найбільш численними національностями та рідною мовою по міськрадах та районах. - Волноваський" [National composition and native language of the population of Donetsk region. Distribution of the permanent population by the most numerous nationalities and native language by city councils and districts. - Volnovaskyi]. archive.ph. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
- ^ "Всеукраїнський перепис населення 2001" [All-Ukrainian population census 2001]. 2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2024-03-02.
- ^ "Національний склад міст". Datatowel.in.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2024-03-02.
- ^ "World Meteorological Organization Climate Normals for 1981–2010". World Meteorological Organization. Archived from the original on 17 July 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
- ^ Nordlinger, Jay; Ponomarenko, Illia (14 May 2024). "A Ukrainian on Ukraine". Q & A, Hosted by Jay Nordlinger. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
External links
edit
Media related to Volnovakha at Wikimedia Commons