Oleksandriia (Ukrainian: Олександрі́я) is a city in Kirovohrad Oblast, central Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Oleksandriia Raion. It also hosts the administration of Oleksandriia urban hromada [uk], one of the hromadas of Ukraine.[2] Oleksandriia is located within the Kryvyi Rih metropolitan area.

Oleksandriia
Олександрія
Flag of Oleksandriia
Coat of arms of Oleksandriia
Oleksandriia is located in Ukraine
Oleksandriia
Oleksandriia
Oleksandriia is located in Ukraine Kirovohrad Oblast
Oleksandriia
Oleksandriia
Coordinates: 48°40′N 33°07′E / 48.667°N 33.117°E / 48.667; 33.117
Country Ukraine
OblastKirovohrad Oblast
RaionOleksandriia Raion
Metropolitan areaKryvyi Rih metropolitan area
HromadaOleksandriia urban hromada
Government
 • MayorSerhiy Kuzmenko[1] (nonpartisan[1])
Area
 • Total55 km2 (21 sq mi)
Elevation
107 m (351 ft)
Population
 (2022)
 • Total76,097
Zip code
28000-28019

In 2001, it had a population of 93,357, and including the villages (selo) and urban type settlements in the city municipality a population of 103,856. In 2022, it had a population of 76,097 (2022 estimate).[3]

History edit

The city is first mentioned in 1746, as the settlement Usivka (Ukrainian: Усівка).[4] The official record of the settlement is dated to 1754, when the Saint Elizabeth fortress was built in the region (today Kropyvnytskyi). During the establishment of the Russian colony of New Serbia in 1752–64, the 3rd Company of New Serbia was quartered in Usivka Pandurs. In place of Usivka, the sconce Bechey (after the Serbian city of Bečej) encampment was established.

In 1764, New Serbia was liquidated, and Usykivka became part of the Elizabethan province of Novorossiya Governorate, which existed until 1783, when its territory was included in the Yekaterinoslav Viceroyalty. In 1784, the Russian government gave the settlement a Hellenic name of Aleksandriysk and later Aleksandriya (locally as Oleksandriya). From 1806 to 1922, Oleksandriya was a county (uyezd) seat.

In 1917, branches of the Ukrainian Free Cossacks appeared on the territory of Oleksandriia. In May 1919, the city of Oleksandriia was the center of an anti-Bolshevik uprising led by Otaman Nykyfor Hryhoriv, whose forces were brutally suppressed by the Red Army on 23 May 1919.

On 6 August 1941, (during World War II) the Red Army of the Soviet Union left the city to the Nazi Germany Wehrmacht without a fight. During the Nazi occupation, the city lost almost its entire Jewish population (est. ~2,500).[5] The Nazi administration also executed over 5,500 Soviet prisoners of war as part of the Nazi stance on the issue of the Soviets not signing the 1929 Geneva Convention. The city was recovered by the Soviet armed forces on 6 December 1943.

Until 18 July 2020, Oleksandriia was designated as a city of oblast significance and belonged to Oleksandriia Municipality. It was the administrative center of Oleksandriia Raion even though it did not belong to the raion. As part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Kirovohrad Oblast to four, Oleksandriia Municipality was merged into Oleksandriia Raion.[6][7]

On 15 April 2022, at 10:26 p.m., two Russian missiles hit the infrastructure of the city's airport.[8]

Population edit

Language edit

Distribution of the population by native language according to the 2001 census:[9]

Language Percentage
Ukrainian 86.3%
Russian 13.19%
other/undecided 0.51%

Geography edit

Climate edit

The climate of Oleksandriia is classified as humid continental (Köppen classification: Dfb). Winters are cold and mild, while summers are hot. January is usually the coldest month (average temperature -5 °C), its hottest month is July (average temperature 21.5 °C). With no dry season, winters are snowy and summers are rainy. Its wettest month is June (66 mm), its driest is March (30 mm), with an average annual precipitation of 526 mm.

Climate data for Oleksandriia, Ukraine (1949-2011)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) −1.8
(28.8)
−1
(30)
3.8
(38.8)
13.7
(56.7)
21.1
(70.0)
25.2
(77.4)
27.1
(80.8)
26.4
(79.5)
20.7
(69.3)
13.4
(56.1)
5.3
(41.5)
0.9
(33.6)
12.9
(55.2)
Daily mean °C (°F) −5
(23)
−4.2
(24.4)
0.2
(32.4)
8.8
(47.8)
15.6
(60.1)
19.7
(67.5)
21.5
(70.7)
20.5
(68.9)
15
(59)
8.7
(47.7)
2.3
(36.1)
−1.8
(28.8)
8.4
(47.1)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) −8.1
(17.4)
−7.4
(18.7)
−3.3
(26.1)
4
(39)
10.2
(50.4)
14.2
(57.6)
15.9
(60.6)
14.7
(58.5)
9.4
(48.9)
4.1
(39.4)
−0.7
(30.7)
−4.4
(24.1)
4.1
(39.4)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 39
(1.5)
34
(1.3)
30
(1.2)
39
(1.5)
45
(1.8)
66
(2.6)
66
(2.6)
48
(1.9)
39
(1.5)
33
(1.3)
40
(1.6)
47
(1.9)
526
(20.7)
Source: Climate-data.org[10]

Places of interest edit

A popular place to visit in the town is Oleksandriia's square, known as Soborna Square ("Соборна площа").

Twin towns edit

Oleksandriia is twinned with:

Notable people edit

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b (in Ukrainian) Oleksandriia mayor election 2020, Central Election Commission of Ukraine
  2. ^ "Александрийская городская громада" (in Russian). Портал об'єднаних громад України.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ (in Ukrainian) Oleksandriia, NASU Institute of History of Ukraine (last reviewed in 2010)
  5. ^ About Oleksandriia at "The Untold Stories: The Murder Sites of the Jews in the Occupied Territories of the Former USSR", Yad Vashem website
  6. ^ "Про утворення та ліквідацію районів. Постанова Верховної Ради України № 807-ІХ". Голос України (in Ukrainian). 18 July 2020. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  7. ^ "Нові райони: карти + склад" (in Ukrainian). Міністерство розвитку громад та територій України.
  8. ^ "Кіровоградщина: росіяни вдарили ракетами по аеродрому в Олександрії". Українська правда (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  9. ^ "Рідні мови в об'єднаних територіальних громадах України".
  10. ^ "Climatological Normals for Oleksandriia, Ukraine (1949-2011)". Climate-data. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
  11. ^ Crossing the English Channel