Zatoka (; or ) is a

rural settlement The definition of a rural settlement depends on the country, in some countries, a rural settlement is any settlement in the areas defined as rural by a governmental office, e.g., by the national census bureau. This may include even rural towns. ...

Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi Raion Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi Raion (; ) is a raion (district) in Odesa Oblast of Ukraine. It is part of the historical region of Bessarabia. Its administrative center is the town of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi. Population: On 18 July 2020, as part of the adm ...

Odesa Oblast Odesa Oblast (), also referred to as Odeshchyna (Одещина), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of southwestern Ukraine, located along the northern coast of the Black Sea. Its administrative centre is the city of Ode ...

, in southwestern

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. It belongs to

Karolino-Buhaz rural hromada Karolino-Buhaz rural hromada () is a rural hromada in Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi Raion of Odesa Oblast in southwestern Ukraine. It contains two rural-type settlements: Karolino-Buhaz (the administrative center) and Zatoka. Population: Until 18 Jul ...

, one of the

hromada In Ukraine, a hromada () is the main type of municipality and the third level Administrative divisions of Ukraine, local self-government in Ukraine. The current hromadas were established by the Cabinet of ministers of Ukraine, Government of Uk ...

s of Ukraine. The population of Zatoka is Its name comes from the Ukrainian-language word , meaning "bay". The settlement is a local beach resort. Additionally, Zatoka contains a small port named Buhaz, which has a single pier and is part of the Port of Bilhorod-Dnistrovsky. The settlement is located on a

sand spit A spit (cognate with the word for a rotisserie bar) or sandspit is a deposition bar or beach landform off coasts or lake shores. It develops in places where re-entrance occurs, such as at a cove's headlands, by the process of longshore drif ...

of the

Dniester Estuary Dniester Estuary, or Dniester Liman (; ) is a liman, formed at the point where the river Dniester flows into the Black Sea. It is located in Ukraine, in Odesa Oblast, and connects Budjak to the Ukrainian mainland. The city of Bilhorod-Dnistrovsky ...

next to where the

Dniester The Dniester ( ) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and then through Moldova (from which it more or less separates the breakaway territory of Transnistria), finally discharging into the Black Sea on Uk ...

flows into the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

. It is 60 km from Odesa and 18 km from the city of

Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi (, ; ; ), historically known as Aq Kirmān () or by other names, is a port city in Odesa Oblast, southwestern Ukraine. It is situated on the right bank of the Dniester Estuary leading to the Black Sea, in the historical r ...

, in the historical region of

Budjak Budjak, also known as Budzhak, is a historical region that was part of Bessarabia from 1812 to 1940. Situated along the Black Sea, between the Danube and Dniester rivers, this #Ethnic groups and demographics, multi-ethnic region covers an area ...

or southern

Bessarabia Bessarabia () is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Bessarabia lies within modern-day Moldova, with the Budjak region covering the southern coa ...

. Zatoka Bridge opened in 1955 and carries the R70 national road and the railway line from

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

History

Near the village there is a monument of Trypillian culture and the Copper Age - Akkembetskyi mound. The settlement of Zatoka was founded in 1827, as a result of the installation of a navigation marker (lighthouse) at the Tsarehradske mouth. In 1850, the Black Sea Lighthouse Directorate decided to: "To grant the status of a lighthouse headed by a pilot and a team of 6 sailors to the Dniester-Carehrad sign from September 21, 1851." The lighthouse has the status of an engineering monument. In 1877, the lighthouse was reconstructed. Instead of a wooden structure, a 16-meter-high tower with lantern rooms was built, in which a Fresnel lens with a gas-fired installation was installed. In March 1918, Bessarabia reunited with Romania, and in April it was officially announced that these lands became part of the Kingdom of Romania. The mouth of the Dniester formed the new state border. The southern part of modern Zatoka (Bugaz) belonged to Romania. From 1940, the whole of Bessarabia, including Bugaz, became controlled by the Soviet Union, and was incorporated into its

Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

whose successor is modern

. In 1941-1944, these lands were part of Romania. On August 21-22, 1944, the Dniester landing operation took place, as a result of which Zatoka was retaken by the Soviet Union. On November 14, 1945, the village of Buhaz was renamed Zatoka. In 1945, a new school was opened in house number 3 on Plavneva Street. In 1953, the Zatoka elementary school was located in the barracks left by the bridge builders. On December 5, 1955, a lift railway bridge was built across the Tsarehradske Estuary, which connects the Dniester Estuary and the Black Sea. In 1964, Zatoka received

urban-type settlement Urban-type settlement, abbreviated: ; , abbreviated: ; ; ; ; . is an official designation for lesser urbanized settlements, used in several Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Eastern European countries. The term was primarily used in the So ...

status.

21st century

On 19 September 2015, local

Euromaidan Euromaidan ( ; , , ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv. The p ...

activist

Andriy Yusov Andriy Volodymyrovych Yusov (; born 1983) is a Ukrainian activist and politician. Since 2022, he has served as the press representative of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. Biography On 17 September 2 ...

was beaten up in the town by people with pro-Russian views. Until 18 July 2020, Zatoka belonged to

Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi Municipality Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi (, ; ; ), historically known as Aq Kirmān () or by other names, is a port city in Odesa Oblast, southwestern Ukraine. It is situated on the right bank of the Dniester Estuary leading to the Black Sea, in the historical re ...

. The municipality was abolished as an administrative unit in July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of

raion A raion (also spelt rayon) is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet states. The term is used for both a type of subnational entity and a division of a city. The word is from the French (meaning 'honeycomb, department'), and is c ...

s of Odesa Oblast to seven. The area of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi Municipality was merged into Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi Raion. On 26 July 2022, during the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, Russian rocket attacks damaged several civilian buildings and injured a man. On 26 January 2024, a law came into effect that abolished the status of urban-type settlement in Ukraine, so Zatoka became a rural settlement.

Demographics

As of the

2001 Ukrainian census The 2001 Ukrainian census is to date the only census of the population of independent Ukraine. It was conducted by the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine on 5 December 2001, twelve years after the last Soviet Union census in 1989.Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...

, 20% as

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

, and 8% as

Moldovans Moldovans, sometimes referred to as Moldavians (, , ), are an ethnic group native to Moldova, who mostly speak the Romanian language, also referred to locally as Moldovan language, Moldovan. Moldovans form significant communities in Romania, It ...

. There were also small minorities of

Bulgarians Bulgarians (, ) are a nation and South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and its neighbouring region, who share a common Bulgarian ancestry, culture, history and language. They form the majority of the population in Bulgaria, ...

, Gagauz,

Belarusians Belarusians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Belarus. They natively speak Belarusian language, Belarusian, an East Slavic language. More than 9 million people proclaim Belarusian ethnicity worldwide. Nearly 7.99&n ...

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

, and

Koreans Koreans are an East Asian ethnic group native to the Korean Peninsula. The majority of Koreans live in the two Korean sovereign states of North and South Korea, which are collectively referred to as Korea. As of 2021, an estimated 7.3 m ...

References

{{Authority control Rural settlements in Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi Raion Nude beaches Spa towns in Ukraine Karolino-Buhaz rural hromada