Oleksandriia () is a city located in

Oleksandriia Raion Oleksandriia Raion is a raion (district) of Kirovohrad Oblast in central Ukraine. The administrative center of the raion is the city of Oleksandriia, which is incorporated separately as a city of oblast significance and does not belong to the rai ...

Kirovohrad Oblast Kirovohrad Oblast ( uk, Кіровоградська область, translit=Kirovohradska oblast; also referred to as Kirovohradschyna — uk, Кіровоградщина) is an oblast (province) of Ukraine. The administrative center of the ...

(

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

) in central

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. Administratively, Oleksandriia serves as the

administrative center An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...

(

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

). Oleksandriia also hosts the administration of

Oleksandriia urban hromada Oleksandriia () is a city located in Oleksandriia Raion, Kirovohrad Oblast ( region) in central Ukraine. Administratively, Oleksandriia serves as the administrative center of Oleksandriia Raion (district). Oleksandriia also hosts the administ ...

, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. In 2001, it had a population of 93,357, and including the villages (selo) and

urban type settlement Urban-type settlementrussian: посёлок городско́го ти́па, translit=posyolok gorodskogo tipa, abbreviated: russian: п.г.т., translit=p.g.t.; ua, селище міського типу, translit=selyshche mis'koho typu, ab ...

s in the city municipality a population of 103,856. It had a population of .

History

The city is first mentioned in 1746, as the settlement ''Usivka'' ().Oleksandriia
NASU Institute of History of Ukraine (last reviewed in 2010) The official record of the settlement is dated 1754, when the Saint Elizabeth fortress was built in the region (today

Kropyvnytskyi Kropyvnytskyi ( uk, Кропивницький, Kropyvnytskyi ) is a city in central Ukraine on the Inhul river with a population of . It is an administrative center of the Kirovohrad Oblast. Over its history, Kropyvnytskyi has changed its nam ...

). 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 Bečej ( sr-cyrl, Бечеј, ; hu, Óbecse, ) is a town and municipality located in the South Bačka District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The town has a population of 23,895, while the municipality has 37,351 inhabitants. I ...

) encampment was established. In 1764, New Serbia was liquidated, and Usykivka became part of the Elizabethan province of

Novorossiya Governorate Novorossiya Governorate (russian: Новороссийская губерния, Novorossiyskaya guberniya, New Russia Governorate; uk, Новоросійська губернія), was a governorate of the Russian Empire in the previously O ...

, which existed until 1783, when its territory was included in the

Yekaterinoslav Viceroyalty The Ekaterinoslav Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire was created on 26 March 1783 by merging the Novorossiya Governorate and Azov Governorate. On 31 December 1796, it was incorporated into the re-established Novorossiya Governorate. Viceroyalty ...

. In 1784, the Russian government gave the settlement a Hellenic name of Aleksandriysk and later Aleksandriya (locally as Oleksandriya). In 1806–1922, Oleksandriya was a county (

uyezd An uezd (also spelled uyezd; rus, уе́зд, p=ʊˈjest), or povit in a Ukrainian context ( uk, повіт), or Kreis in Baltic-German context, was a type of administrative subdivision of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Russian Empire, and the ea ...

) seat. In 1917, branches of the Ukrainian Free Cossacks appeared on the territory of Oleksandria. In May 1919, the city of Oleksandria was the center of an anti-Bolshevik uprising led by Otaman

Nykyfor Hryhoriv Nykyfor Oleksandrovych Hryhoriv (né Nychypir Servetnyk, 1884 – 27 July 1919) was a Ukrainian paramilitary leader noted for repeatedly switching sides during the Ukrainian Civil War. He was commonly known as "Otaman Hryhoriv." In some historic ...

. On 23 May 1919, the uprising was brutally suppressed by the forces of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

. On 6 August 1941, (during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

) the

of the Soviet Union left the city to the

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

without fight. During the Nazi occupation, the city lost almost its entire Jewish population (est. ~2,500). 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

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. On 15 April 12022, at 10:26 p.m., two missiles hit the infrastructure of the city's airport.

Climate

Climate of Oleksandriia is classified as humid continental (Köppen classification: Dfb). Winter is cold and mild. Summer is hot. Coldest month is January (average temperature -5 °C), hottest month is July (average temperature 21.5 °C). With no dry season, winters are snowy and summers are rainy. The wettest month is June (66 mm), the driest is March (30 mm). Average annual precipitation is 526 mm.

Places of interest

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

Twin towns

Oleksandriia is twinned with: *

Jarocin Jarocin () (german: Jarotschin) is a town in west-central Poland with 25,700 inhabitants (1995), the administrative capital of Jarocin County in Greater Poland Voivodeship. Jarocin is a historical town, having been founded and granted city right ...

, Poland * Xinyi, China *

Tervel Khan Tervel ( bg, Тервел) also called ''Tarvel'', or ''Terval'', or ''Terbelis'' in some Byzantine sources, was the khan of Bulgaria during the First Bulgarian Empire at the beginning of the 8th century. In 705 Emperor Justinian II named ...

, Bulgaria

People from Oleksandriia

Yuriy Kravchenko Yuriy Fedorovych Kravchenko ( uk, Юрій Федорович Кравченко; March 5, 1951 – March 4, 2005) was a Ukrainian General of Internal Service and statesman, serving as the country's Minister of Internal Affairs (1995—2001). I ...

, Ukrainian police officer and statesman (1951) *

Pyotr Koshevoy Pyotr Kirillovich Koshevoy ( ua, Петро Кирилович Кошовий; russian: Пётр Кириллович Кошевой; – 30 August 1976) was a Soviet military commander and a Marshal of the Soviet Union. Koshevoy was born to a ...

, Soviet military leader (1968) * Leonid Popov, Soviet

cosmonaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

Sholom Secunda Sholom Secunda (, Alexandria, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire13 June 1974, New York) was an American composer of Ukrainian-Jewish descent, best known for the tunes of ''Bei Mir Bistu Shein'' and ''Donna Donna''. Biography He was born in 189 ...

, Jewish-American composer (1894) * Ihor Nenko, first Ukrainian and post Soviet Union athlete who swam across La Manche (

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

)Crossing the English Channel
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References