Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

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 ...

. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the

Dnieper River The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...

. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2,952,301, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyiv is an important industrial, scientific, educational, and cultural center. It is home to many

high-tech High technology (high tech or high-tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the most complex or ...

industries, higher education institutions, and historical landmarks. The city has an extensive system of

public transport Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...

and infrastructure, including the

Kyiv Metro The Kyiv Metro (, ) is a rapid transit system in Kyiv, Ukraine, owned by the Kyiv City Council and operated by the city-owned company Kyivskyi Metropoliten''.'' It was initially opened on 6 November 1960, as a single line with five stations. I ...

. The city's name is said to derive from the name of Kyi, one of its four legendary founders. During its history, Kyiv, one of the oldest cities in Eastern Europe, passed through several stages of prominence and obscurity. The city probably existed as a commercial center as early as the 5th century. A Slavic settlement on the great trade route between

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

and

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, Kyiv was a tributary of the

Khazars The Khazars ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a nomadic Turkic people who, in the late 6th century CE, established a major commercial empire covering the southeastern section of modern European Russia, southern Ukraine, Crimea, a ...

, until its capture by the

Varangians The Varangians ( ; ; ; , or )Varangian
," Online Etymology Dictionary were

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

) in the mid-9th century. Under Varangian rule, the city became a capital of

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,. * was the first East Slavs, East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical At ...

, the first East Slavic state. Completely destroyed during the

Mongol invasions The Mongol invasions and conquests took place during the 13th and 14th centuries, creating history's largest contiguous empire, the Mongol Empire (1206–1368), which by 1260 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the Mongol devastati ...

in 1240, the city lost most of its influence for the centuries to come. Coming under

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, then

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and then

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, the city would grow from a frontier market into an important centre of Orthodox learning in the sixteenth century, and later of industry, commerce, and administration by the nineteenth. The city prospered again during the Russian Empire's

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

in the late 19th century. In 1918, when the

Ukrainian People's Republic The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR) was a short-lived state in Eastern Europe. Prior to its proclamation, the Central Council of Ukraine was elected in March 1917 Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, as a result of the February Revolution, ...

declared independence from the

Russian Republic The Russian Republic,. referred to as the Russian Democratic Federative Republic in the 1918 Constitution, was a short-lived state which controlled, ''de jure'', the territory of the former Russian Empire after its proclamation by the Rus ...

after the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

there, Kyiv became the republic's capital. From the end of the Ukrainian-Soviet and Polish-Soviet wars in 1921, Kyiv was part of the

Ukrainian SSR 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. ...

, of which it became the capital in 1934. The city suffered significant destruction during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

but quickly recovered in the postwar years, remaining the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

's third-largest city. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and

Ukrainian independence Ukraine emerged as the concept of a nation, and Ukrainians as a nationality, with the Ukrainian National Revival which began in the late 18th and early 19th century. The first wave of national revival is traditionally connected with the publi ...

in 1991, Kyiv remained Ukraine's capital and experienced a steady influx of ethnic Ukrainian migrants from other regions of the country. During the country's transformation to a

market economy A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production, and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand. The major characteristic of a mark ...

and

electoral democracy Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy or electoral democracy, is a type of democracy where elected delegates represent a group of people, in contrast to direct democracy. Nearly all modern Western-style democracies funct ...

, Kyiv has continued to be Ukraine's largest and wealthiest city. Its armament-dependent industrial output fell after the Soviet collapse, adversely affecting science and technology, but new sectors of the economy such as services and

finance Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and Academic discipline, discipline of money, currency, assets and Liability (financial accounting), liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business administration, Business Admin ...

facilitated Kyiv's growth in salaries and investment, as well as providing continuous funding for the development of

housing Housing refers to a property containing one or more Shelter (building), shelter as a living space. Housing spaces are inhabited either by individuals or a collective group of people. Housing is also referred to as a human need and right to ...

and urban infrastructure. Kyiv has emerged as the most

pro-Western The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to various nations and state (polity), states in Western Europe, Northern America, and Australasia; with some debate as to whether those in Eastern Europe and Latin America also const ...

region of Ukraine;

parties A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...

advocating tighter integration with the European Union dominate during

elections in Ukraine An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...

Name

* ( , ) or Kiev ( ) *, *, The traditional etymology, stemming from the ''

Primary Chronicle The ''Primary Chronicle'', shortened from the common ''Russian Primary Chronicle'' (, commonly transcribed ''Povest' vremennykh let'' (PVL), ), is a Rus' chronicle, chronicle of Kievan Rus' from about 850 to 1110. It is believed to have been or ...

'', is that the name is a derivation of Kyi (, , ''Ky'' or ''Kiy''), the legendary eponymous founder of the city. According to Oleg Trubachyov's etymological dictionary from the

Old East Slavic Old East Slavic (traditionally also Old Russian) was a language (or a group of dialects) used by the East Slavs from the 7th or 8th century to the 13th or 14th century, until it diverged into the Russian language, Russian and Ruthenian language ...

name ''*Kyjevŭ gordŭ'' (literally, "Kyi's castle", "Kyi's gord"), from

Proto-Slavic Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 2nd millennium BC through the 6th ...

''*kyjevъ'', This etymology has been questioned, for instance by

Mykhailo Hrushevsky Mykhailo Serhiiovych Hrushevsky (; – 24 November 1934) was a Ukrainian academician, politician, historian and statesman who was one of the most important figures of the Ukrainian national revival of the early 20th century. Hrushevsky is ...

, who called it an "etymological myth", and meant that the names of the legendary founders are in turn based on place names. According to the Ukrainian-Canadian linguist Jaroslav Rudnyckyj, the name can be connected to the Proto-Slavic root *kyjь, but should be interpreted as meaning 'stick, pole' as in its modern Ukrainian equivalent Кий. The name should in that case be interpreted as 'palisaded settlement'. ''Kyiv'' is the official romanized Ukrainian name for the city, The entry is the same as the print edition of It includes the note "''Ukrainian name'': Kyiv". For American English, the website also includes the definition from In the 2018 fifth edition, WNWCD changed the main headword to ''Kyiv'', with ''Kiev'' as a see-also entry with the label "Russ. name for Kyiv". and it is used for legislative and official acts. ''Kiev'' is the traditional English name for the city, but because of its historical derivation from the Russian name, ''Kiev'' lost favor with many Western media outlets after the outbreak of the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

in 2014 in conjunction with the KyivNotKiev campaign launched by Ukraine to change the way that international media were spelling the city's name.

History

The first known humans in the region of Kyiv lived there in the late Paleolithic period (

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...

).Kyiv
at

Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia'' () was a multi-purpose encyclopedia of Ukraine, issued in the USSR. First attempt Following the publication of the first volume of the in Lviv, then in Poland, in 1930, the ''Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia ...

The population around Kyiv during the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

formed part of the so-called Trypillian culture, as evidenced by artifacts from that culture found in the area. During the early

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

certain tribes settled around Kyiv that practiced land cultivation, husbandry and trading with the

Scythians The Scythians ( or ) or Scyths (, but note Scytho- () in composition) and sometimes also referred to as the Pontic Scythians, were an Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian Eurasian noma ...

and ancient states of the northern Black Sea coast. Findings of Roman coins of the 2nd to the 4th centuries suggest trade relations with the eastern provinces of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

. Notable archaeologists of the area around Kyiv include Vikentiy Khvoyka.

Founding

Scholars continue to debate when the city was founded: The traditional founding date is 482 CE, so the city celebrated its 1,500th anniversary in 1982. Archaeological data indicates a founding in the sixth or seventh centuries,Kyiv
", ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 9 March 2020. with some researchers dating the founding as late as the late 9th century. There are several legendary accounts of the origin of the city. One tells of members of a Slavic tribe ( Eastern Polans), brothers Kyi (the eldest, after whom the city was named), Shchek, Khoryv, and their sister Lybid, who founded the city (See the ''

''). Another legend states that

Saint Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( ; ; ; ) was an apostle of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was a fisherman and one of the Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus. The title First-Called () used by the Eastern Orthodox Church stems from the Gospel of Jo ...

passed through the area in the 1st century. Where the city is now he erected a cross, where a church later was built. Since the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

an image of

Saint Michael Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael and Saint Michael the Taxiarch is an archangel and the warrior of God in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in third- and second- ...

has represented the city as well as the

duchy A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a country, territory, fiefdom, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or Queen regnant, queen in Western European tradition. There once existed an important differe ...

. There is little historical evidence pertaining to the period when the city was founded. Scattered Slavic settlements existed in the area from the 6th century, but it is unclear whether any of them later developed into the city. On the

Ptolemy world map The Ptolemy world map is a map of the world known to Greco-Roman societies in the 2nd century. It is based on the description contained in Ptolemy's book ''Geography'', written . Based on an inscription in several of the earliest surviving manusc ...

there are several settlements indicated along the mid-stream of Borysthenes, among which is Azagarium, which some historians believe to be the predecessor to Kyiv. However, according to the 1773 ''Dictionary of Ancient Geography'' of Alexander Macbean, that settlement corresponds to the modern city of

Chernobyl Chernobyl, officially called Chornobyl, is a partially abandoned city in Vyshhorod Raion, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. It is located within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, to the north of Kyiv and to the southwest of Gomel in neighbouring Belarus. ...

. Just south of Azagarium, there is another settlement, Amadoca, believed to be the capital of the Amadoci people living in an area between the marshes of Amadoca in the west and the Amadoca mountains in the east. Another name for Kyiv mentioned in history, the origin of which is not completely clear, is Sambat, which apparently has something to do with the Khazar Empire. The ''Primary Chronicle'' says the residents of Kyiv told Askold "there were three brothers Kyi, Shchek, and Khoriv. They founded this town and died, and now we are staying and paying taxes to their relatives the Khazars". In ''De Administrando Imperio'',

Constantine Porphyrogenitus Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (; 17 May 905 – 9 November 959) was the fourth Byzantine emperor of the Macedonian dynasty, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zoe Karbonopsina, an ...

mentions a caravan of small cargo boats which assembled annually, and writes, "They come down the river Dnieper and assemble at the strong-point of Kyiv (Kioava), also called Sambatas". At least three Arabic-speaking 10th century geographers who traveled the area mention the city of Zānbat as the chief city of the Russes. Among them are ibn Rustah, Abu Sa'id Gardezi, and an author of the

Hudud al-'Alam The ''Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam'' (, "Boundaries of the World," "Limits of the World," or in also in English "The Regions of the World") is a 10th-century geography book written in Persian by an anonymous author from Guzgan (present day northern Afg ...

. The texts of those authors were discovered by Russian orientalist Alexander Tumansky. The etymology of Sambat has been argued by many historians, including Grigoriy Ilyinsky, Nikolay Karamzin,

Jan Potocki Count Jan Potocki (; 8 March 1761 – 23 December 1815) was a Polish nobleman, ethnologist, linguist, traveller and author of the Enlightenment period, whose life and exploits made him a celebrated figure in Poland. He is known chiefly for his ...

, Nikolay Lambin, Joachim Lelewel, and Guðbrandur Vigfússon. The Primary Chronicle states that at some point during the late 9th or early 10th century Askold and Dir, who may have been of Viking or Varangian descent, ruled in Kyiv. They were murdered by

Oleg of Novgorod Oleg (), Oleh (), or Aleh () is an Slavic peoples, East Slavic given name. The name is very common in Russia, Ukraine, and Belаrus. Origins ''Oleg'' derives from the Old Norse ''Helgi'' (Helge (name), Helge), meaning "holy", "sacred", or "ble ...

in 882, but some historians, such as

Omeljan Pritsak Omeljan Yosypovych Pritsak (; 7 April 1919 – 29 May 2006) was the first Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of History of Ukraine, Ukrainian History at Harvard University and the founder and first director (1973–1989) of the Harvard Ukrainian Rese ...

and Constantine Zuckerman, dispute that, arguing that Khazar rule continued as late as the 920s, leaving historical documents such as the Kievan Letter and Schechter Letter. Other historians suggest that

Magyar tribes The Magyar or Hungarian tribes ( , ) or Hungarian clans were the fundamental political units within whose framework the Hungarians (Magyars) lived, before the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin and the subsequent establishment of the Prin ...

ruled the city between 840 and 878, before migrating with some

Khazar The Khazars ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a nomadic Turkic people who, in the late 6th century CE, established a major commercial empire covering the southeastern section of modern European Russia, southern Ukraine, Crimea, an ...

tribes to the

Carpathian Basin The Pannonian Basin, with the term Carpathian Basin being sometimes preferred in Hungarian literature, is a large sedimentary basin situated in southeastern Central Europe. After the Treaty of Trianon following World War I, the geomorphologic ...

. The Primary Chronicle mentions Hungarians passing near Kyiv. Askold's Grave was previously known as " Uhorske urochyshche" (Hungarian place). According to the aforementioned scholars the building of the fortress of Kyiv was finished in 840 under the leadership of Keő (Keve), Csák, and Geréb, three brothers, possibly members of the Tarján tribe. The three names appear in the Kyiv Chronicle as Kyi, Shchek, and Khoryv and may be not of Slavic origin, as Russian historians have always struggled to account for their meanings and origins. According to Hungarian historian Viktor Padányi, their names were inserted into the Kyiv Chronicle in the 12th century, and they were identified as old-Russian mythological heroes. Lebedev baptism

The city of Kyiv stood on the trade route between the Varangians and the Greeks. In 968 the nomadic

Pechenegs The Pechenegs () or Patzinaks, , Middle Turkic languages, Middle Turkic: , , , , , , ka, პაჭანიკი, , , ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Pečenezi, separator=/, Печенези, also known as Pecheneg Turks were a semi-nomadic Turkic peopl ...

attacked and then besieged the city. By 1000 CE the city had a population of 45,000. In March 1169, Grand Prince

Andrey Bogolyubsky Andrey Yuryevich Bogolyubsky (, lit. Andrey Yuryevich of Bogolyubovo; died 28 June 1174) was Prince of Vladimir-Suzdal from 1157 until his death. During repeated internecine wars between the princely clans, Andrey accompanied his father Yuri D ...

Vladimir-Suzdal The Principality of Suzdal, from 1157 the Grand Principality of Vladimir, commonly known as Vladimir-Suzdal, or simply Suzdalia, was a medieval principality that was established during the disintegration of Kievan Rus'. In historiography, the ...

sacked Kyiv, leaving the old town and the prince's hall in ruins. He took many pieces of religious artwork - including the '' Theotokos of Vladimir'' icon - from Vyshhorod. In 1203, Prince

Rurik Rostislavich Rurik Rostislavich, also spelt Riurik, ({{circa, 1140 - 19 April 1212{{efn, Other sources state the date of Rurik's death as 1211,1214 or 1215) was Prince of Novgorod (1170–1171), Belgorod (1173–1194), Grand Prince of Kiev (1173;{{sfn, Mar ...

and his Kipchak allies captured and burned Kyiv. In the 1230s, the city was besieged and ravaged several times by different Rus princes. The city had not recovered from these attacks when, in 1240, the

Mongol invasion of Rus' The Mongol Empire invaded and conquered much of Kievan Rus' in the mid-13th century, sacking numerous cities such as Principality of Ryazan, Ryazan, Principality of Yaroslavl, Yaroslavl, Principality of Pereyaslavl, Pereyaslavl and Vladimi ...

, led by

Batu Khan Batu Khan (–1255) was a Mongol ruler and founder of the Golden Horde, a constituent of the Mongol Empire established after Genghis Khan's demise. Batu was a son of Jochi, thus a grandson of Genghis Khan. His '' ulus'' ruled over the Kievan ...

, completed the destruction of Kyiv. These events had a profound effect on the future of the city and on the East Slavic civilization. Before Bogolyubsky's pillaging, Kyiv had had a reputation as one of the largest cities in the world, with a population exceeding 100,000 at the beginning of the 12th century. In the early 1320s, a Lithuanian army led by Grand Duke

Gediminas Gediminas ( – December 1341) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1315 or 1316 until his death in 1341. He is considered the founder of Lithuania's capital Vilnius (see: Iron Wolf legend). During his reign, he brought under his rule lands from t ...

defeated a Slavic army led by Stanislav of Kyiv at the Battle on the Irpen' River and conquered the city. The

Tatars Tatars ( )Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary are a group of Turkic peoples across Eas ...

, who also claimed Kyiv, retaliated in 1324–1325, so while Kyiv was ruled by a Lithuanian prince, it had to pay tribute to the

Golden Horde The Golden Horde, self-designated as ''Ulug Ulus'' ( in Turkic) was originally a Mongols, Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the division of ...

. Finally, as a result of the Battle of Blue Waters in 1362,

Algirdas Algirdas (; , ; – May 1377) was List of Lithuanian monarchs, Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1345 to 1377. With the help of his brother Kęstutis (who defended the western border of the Duchy) he created an empire stretching from the pre ...

, Grand Duke of Lithuania, incorporated Kyiv and surrounding areas into the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

. In 1482,

Crimean Tatars Crimean Tatars (), or simply Crimeans (), are an Eastern European Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group and nation indigenous to Crimea. Their ethnogenesis lasted thousands of years in Crimea and the northern regions along the coast of the Blac ...

sacked and burned much of Kyiv. At the time of the Lithuanian rule, the core of the city was located in Podil and there was a Lithuanian with 18 towers on the Zamkova Hora which served as a residence of Vladimir Olgerdovich, Grand Prince of Kyiv, and subsequently of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania (e.g.

Vytautas Vytautas the Great (; 27 October 1430) was a ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He was also the prince of Grodno (1370–1382), prince of Lutsk (1387–1389), and the postulated king of the Hussites. In modern Lithuania, Vytautas is revere ...

). With the 1569

Union of Lublin The Union of Lublin (; ) was signed on 1 July 1569 in Lublin, Poland, and created a single state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest countries in Europe at the time. It replaced the personal union of the Crown of the Kingd ...

, when the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

was established, the Lithuanian-controlled lands of the Kyiv region (

Podolia Podolia or Podillia is a historic region in Eastern Europe located in the west-central and southwestern parts of Ukraine and northeastern Moldova (i.e. northern Transnistria). Podolia is bordered by the Dniester River and Boh River. It features ...

Volhynia Volhynia or Volynia ( ; see #Names and etymology, below) is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between southeastern Poland, southwestern Belarus, and northwestern Ukraine. The borders of the region are not clearly defined, but in ...

, and

Podlachia Podlachia, also known by its Polish name Podlasie (; ; ), is a historical region in north-eastern Poland. Its largest city is Białystok, whereas the historical capital is Drohiczyn. Similarly to several other historical regions of Poland, e.g ...

) were transferred from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to the

Crown of the Kingdom of Poland The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland (; ) was a political and legal concept formed in the 14th century in the Kingdom of Poland, assuming unity, indivisibility and continuity of the state. Under this idea, the state was no longer seen as the Pat ...

, and Kyiv became the capital of

Kyiv Voivodeship The Kiev Voivodeship (; ; ) was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1471 until 1569 and of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland from 1569 until 1793, as part of Lesser Poland Province of ...

. The 1658

Treaty of Hadiach The Treaty of Hadiach (; ) was a treaty signed on 16 September 1658 in Hadiach (present-day Ukraine) between representatives of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth ( representing Poland and representing Lithuania) and Zaporozhian Cossacks (repr ...

envisaged Kyiv becoming the capital of the Grand Duchy of Rus' within the Polish–Lithuanian–Ruthenian Commonwealth, but this provision of the treaty never went into operation.

Russian suzerainty

Occupied by Russian troops since the 1654 Treaty of Pereyaslav, Kyiv became a part of the

Tsardom of Russia The Tsardom of Russia, also known as the Tsardom of Moscow, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of tsar by Ivan the Terrible, Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter the Great in 1721. ...

from 1667 with the Truce of Andrusovo and enjoyed a degree of autonomy. None of the Polish-Russian treaties concerning Kyiv have ever been ratified. In the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, Kyiv was a primary Christian centre, attracting

pilgrim The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as ...

s, and the cradle of many of the empire's most important religious figures, but until the 19th century, the city's commercial importance remained marginal. Pic I V Ivasiuk Mykola Bohdan Khmelnytskys Entry to Kyiv

Pic I V Ivasiuk Mykola Bohdan Khmelnytskys Entry to Kyiv

In 1834, the Russian government established Saint Vladimir University, now called the

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv The Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (; also known as Kyiv University, Shevchenko University, or KNU) is a public university in Kyiv, Ukraine. The university is the third-oldest university in Ukraine after the University of Lviv and ...

after the Ukrainian poet

Taras Shevchenko Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko (; ; 9 March 1814 – 10 March 1861) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, artist, public and political figure, folklorist, and ethnographer. He was a fellow of the Imperial Academy of Arts and a member of the Brotherhood o ...

(1814–1861). (Shevchenko worked as a field researcher and editor for the geography department). The medical faculty of Saint Vladimir University, separated into an independent institution in 1919–1921 during the Soviet period, became the Bogomolets National Medical University in 1995. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

and ecclesiastical authorities dominated city life; the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

had involvement in a significant part of Kyiv's infrastructure and commercial activity. In the late 1840s the historian, Mykola Kostomarov (Russian: ), founded a secret political society, the Brotherhood of Saint Cyril and Methodius, whose members put forward the idea of a federation of free

Slavic peoples The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, Southeast ...

with Ukrainians as a distinct and separate group rather than a subordinate part of the Russian nation; the Russian authorities quickly suppressed the society. Following the gradual loss of Ukraine's autonomy, Kyiv experienced growing

Russification Russification (), Russianisation or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians adopt Russian culture and Russian language either voluntarily or as a result of a deliberate state policy. Russification was at times ...

in the 19th century, by means of Russian migration, administrative actions, and social modernization. At the beginning of the 20th century the Russian-speaking part of the population dominated the city centre, while the lower classes living on the outskirts retained Ukrainian

folk culture Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as tales, myths, legends, proverbs, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also includes mat ...

to a significant extent. However, enthusiasts among ethnic Ukrainian aristocrats, soldiers, and merchants made attempts to preserve the native culture in Kyiv, by clandestine book-printing, amateur theatre, folk studies, etc. Kiev downtown

During the Russian industrial revolution in the late 19th century, Kyiv became an important trade and transportation centre of the Russian Empire, specialising in sugar and grain export by railway and on the

Dnieper river The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...

. By 1900, the city had also become a significant industrial centre, with a population of 250,000. Landmarks of that period include the railway infrastructure, the foundation of numerous educational and cultural facilities, and notable architectural monuments (mostly merchant-oriented). In 1892, the first electric tram line of the Russian Empire started running in Kyiv (the third in the world). Kyiv prospered during the late 19th century

in the Russian Empire, when it became the third most important city of the Empire and the major centre of commerce in its southwest.

Soviet era

In the turbulent period following the 1917 Russian Revolution, Kyiv became the capital of several successive Ukrainian states and was caught in the middle of several conflicts:

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, during which German soldiers occupied it from 2 March 1918 to November 1918, the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

of 1917 to 1922, and the

Polish–Soviet War The Polish–Soviet War (14 February 1919 – 18 March 1921) was fought primarily between the Second Polish Republic and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, following World War I and the Russian Revolution. After the collapse ...

of 1919–1921. During the last three months of 1919, Kyiv was intermittently controlled by the

White Army The White Army, also known as the White Guard, the White Guardsmen, or simply the Whites, was a common collective name for the armed formations of the White movement and Anti-Sovietism, anti-Bolshevik governments during the Russian Civil War. T ...

. Kyiv changed hands sixteen times from the end of 1918 to August 1920. From 1921 to 1991, the city formed part of the

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. ...

, which became a founding republic of the

in 1922. The major events that took place in Soviet Ukraine during the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

all affected Kyiv: the 1920s

Ukrainization Ukrainization or Ukrainisation ( ) is a policy or practice of increasing the usage and facilitating the development of the Ukrainian language and promoting other elements of Ukrainian culture in various spheres of public life such as education, ...

as well as the migration of the rural Ukrainophone population made the

Russophone This article details the geographical distribution of Russian-speakers. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the status of the Russian language often became a matter of controversy. Some Post-Soviet states adopted policies of Derus ...

city Ukrainian-speaking and bolstered the development of Ukrainian cultural life in the city; the Soviet industrialization that started in the late 1920s turned the city, a former centre of commerce and religion, into a major industrial, technological and scientific centre; the 1932–1933 Great Famine devastated the part of the migrant population not registered for ration cards; and

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

of 1937–1938 almost eliminated the city's

intelligentsia The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the i ...

Orlando Figes Orlando Guy Figes (; born 20 November 1959) is a British and German historian and writer. He was a professor of history at Birkbeck College, University of London, where he was made Emeritus Professor on his retirement in 2022. Figes is known f ...

''The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia'', 2007, , pages 227–315.Robert Gellately, ''Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler: The Age of Social Catastrophe'' (Knopf, 2007: ), 720 pages. In 1934, Kyiv became the capital of Soviet Ukraine. The city boomed again during the years of Soviet industrialization as its population grew rapidly and many industrial giants were established, some of which exist today. In

, the city again suffered significant damage, and

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

occupied it from 19 September 1941 to 6 November 1943.

Axis An axis (: axes) may refer to: Mathematics *A specific line (often a directed line) that plays an important role in some contexts. In particular: ** Coordinate axis of a coordinate system *** ''x''-axis, ''y''-axis, ''z''-axis, common names ...

forces killed or captured more than 600,000 Soviet soldiers in the great encircling Battle of Kyiv in 1941. Most of those captured never returned alive. Shortly after the

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

occupied the city, a team of

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

officers who had remained hidden dynamited most of the buildings on the

Khreshchatyk Khreshchatyk (, ) is the main street of Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine. The street is long, and runs in a northeast-southwest direction from European Square (Kyiv), European Square through the Maidan Nezalezhnosti, Maidan to Bessarabska Sq ...

, the main street of the city, where German military and civil authorities had occupied most of the buildings; the buildings burned for days and 25,000 people were left homeless. Allegedly in response to the actions of the NKVD, the Germans rounded up all the local

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 ...

they could find, nearly 34,000, and massacred them at

Babi Yar Babi Yar () or Babyn Yar () is a ravine in the Ukraine, Ukrainian capital Kyiv and a site of massacres carried out by Nazi Germany's forces during Eastern Front (World War II), its campaign against the Soviet Union in World War II. The first and ...

in Kyiv on 29 and 30 September 1941. In the months that followed, thousands more were taken to Babi Yar where they were shot. It is estimated that the Germans murdered more than 100,000 people of various ethnic groups, mostly civilians, at Babi Yar during World War II. Kiev 24

Kyiv recovered economically in the post-war years, becoming once again the third-most important city of the Soviet Union. The catastrophic accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986 occurred only north of the city. However, the prevailing south wind blew most of the radioactive debris away from Kyiv.

Independence

In the course of the

collapse of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

the

Ukrainian parliament The Verkhovna Rada ( ; VR), officially the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is the unicameral parliament of Ukraine. It consists of 450 deputies presided over by a speaker. The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovna Rada building in Ukraine's capi ...

proclaimed the

Declaration of Independence of Ukraine The Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine was adopted by the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR (''Verkhovna Rada'') on 24 August 1991.Orange Revolution The Orange Revolution () was a series of protests that led to political upheaval in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005. It gained momentum primarily due to the initiative of the general population, sparked by the aftermath of the ...

. From November 2013 until February 2014, central Kyiv became the primary location of

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 ...

. During the onset of 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 ...

in February 2022, Russian forces attempted to seize Kyiv but were repelled by Ukrainian forces on the outskirts of the city; Kyiv itself escaped major damage. Following the Russian retreat from the region in April 2022, Kyiv has been subject to frequent air strikes.

Environment

Geography

Geographically, Kyiv is on the border of the

Polesia Polesia, also called Polissia, Polesie, or Polesye, is a natural (geographic) and historical region in Eastern Europe within the East European Plain, including the Belarus–Ukraine border region and part of eastern Poland. This region shou ...

woodland ecological zone, a part of the European mixed woods area, and the East European

forest steppe A forest steppe is a temperate-climate ecotone and habitat type composed of grassland interspersed with areas of woodland or forest. Locations Forest steppe primarily occurs in a belt of forest steppes across northern Eurasia from the easter ...

biome A biome () is a distinct geographical region with specific climate, vegetation, and animal life. It consists of a biological community that has formed in response to its physical environment and regional climate. In 1935, Tansley added the ...

. However, the city's unique landscape distinguishes it from the surrounding region. Kyiv is completely surrounded by

Kyiv Oblast Kyiv Oblast (, ), also called Kyivshchyna (, ), is an Administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in central and northern Ukraine. It surrounds, but does not include, the city of Kyiv, which is administered as a city with special sta ...

. Originally on the west bank, today Kyiv is on both sides of the

Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...

, which flows southwards through the city towards 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 ...

. The older and higher western part of the city sits on numerous wooded hills ( Kyiv Hills), with ravines and small rivers. Kyiv's geographical relief contributed to its

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...

s, such as ''Podil'' ("lower"), ''Pechersk'' ("caves"), and ''uzviz'' (a steep street, "descent"). Kyiv is a part of the larger Dnieper Upland adjoining the western bank of the Dnieper in its mid-flow, and which contributes to the city's elevation change. The northern outskirts of the city border the Polesian Lowland. Kyiv expanded into the Dnieper Lowland on the left bank (''to the east'') as late as the 20th century. The whole portion of Kyiv on the left bank of the Dnieper is generally referred to as the ''Left Bank'' (, ''Livyi bereh''). Significant areas of the left bank Dnieper valley were artificially sand-deposited, and are protected by dams. Within the city the Dnieper River forms a branching system of

tributaries A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream ('' main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which the ...

, isles, and harbors within the city limits. The city is close to the mouth of the

Desna River The Desna ( Russian and ) is a river in Russia and Ukraine, a major left-tributary of the Dnieper. Its name in means "right hand". It has a length of , and its drainage basin covers .Kyiv Reservoir The Kyiv Reservoir (), locally the Kyiv Sea (), is a large Reservoir (water), water reservoir located on the Dnipro River in Ukraine. Named after the city of Kyiv, which lies to the south, it covers an area of within the Kyiv Oblast. The reserv ...

in the north, and the Kaniv Reservoir in the south. Both the Dnieper and Desna rivers are

navigable A body of water, such as a river, canal or lake, is navigable if it is deep, wide and calm enough for a water vessel (e.g. boats) to pass safely. Navigability is also referred to in the broader context of a body of water having sufficient under ...

at Kyiv, although regulated by the reservoir shipping locks and limited by winter freeze-over. In total, there are 448 bodies of open water within the boundaries of Kyiv, which include the Dnieper itself, its reservoirs, and several small rivers, dozens of lakes and artificially created ponds. They occupy 7949 hectares. Additionally, the city has 16 developed beaches (totalling 140 hectares) and 35 near-water recreational areas (covering more than 1,000 hectares). Many are used for pleasure and recreation, although some of the bodies of water are not suitable for swimming. According to the UN 2011 evaluation, there were no risks of

natural disaster A natural disaster is the very harmful impact on a society or community brought by natural phenomenon or Hazard#Natural hazard, hazard. Some examples of natural hazards include avalanches, droughts, earthquakes, floods, heat waves, landslides ...

s in Kyiv and its metropolitan area.

Climate

Kyiv has a warm-summer

humid continental Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity depe ...

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Dfb''). The warmest months are June, July, and August, with mean temperatures of . The coldest are December, January, and February, with mean temperatures of . The highest ever temperature recorded in the city was on 30 July 1936. The coldest temperature ever recorded in the city was on 11 January 1951. Snow cover usually lies from mid-November to the end of March, with the frost-free period lasting 180 days on average, but surpassing 200 days in some years.

Legal status, local government and politics

Legal status and local government

The municipality of the city of Kyiv has a special legal status within Ukraine compared to the other administrative subdivisions of the country. The most significant difference is that the city is considered as a region of Ukraine (see

Regions of Ukraine The administrative divisions of Ukraine ( ) are under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Ukraine, Ukrainian Constitution. Ukraine is a unitary state with three levels of administrative divisions: 27 regions (24 Oblasts of Ukraine, oblasts ...

). It is the only city that has double jurisdiction. The Head of City State Administration – the city's governor – is appointed by the

president of Ukraine The president of Ukraine (, ) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, conducts negotiations and concludes international treaties. ...

, while the Head of the City Council – the

mayor of Kyiv The Head of Kyiv City (), unofficially and more commonly the Mayor of Kyiv (), is a city official elected by popular vote who serves as a head of the Kyiv city state administration (the capital of Ukraine) and a chairperson the Kyiv City Counc ...

– is elected by local popular vote. The mayor of Kyiv is

Vitali Klitschko Vitalii Volodymyrovych Klychko (; ; born 19 July 1971), known as Vitali Klitschko, is a Ukrainian politician and former professional boxer. He serves as mayor of Kyiv,Vitali Klitschko sworn in as mayor of Kyiv
,

Interfax-Ukraine Interfax-Ukraine () is a Ukrainian news agency. Founded in 1992, the company publishes in Ukrainian, Russian, English and German. The company owns a 50-seat press centre. The staff of the agency is 105 people (as of the end of February 2022) ...

(5 June 2014) after he had won the 25 May 2014 Kyiv mayoral elections with almost 57% of the votes.Klitschko officially announced as winner of Kyiv mayor election
,

(4 June 2014) Since 25 June 2014, Klitschko is also Head of Kyiv City Administration.Poroshenko appoints Klitschko head of Kyiv city administration – decree
,

(25 June 2014)
Poroshenko orders Klitschko to bring title of best European capital back to Kyiv
,

(25 June 2014) Klitschko was last reelected in the 2020 Kyiv local election with 50.52% of the votes, in the first round of the election.Vitali Klitschko wins in first round of Kyiv mayor election
,

Ukrinform The National News Agency of Ukraine (), or Ukrinform (), is a state information and news agency, and international broadcaster of Ukraine. It was founded in 1918 during the Ukrainian War of IndependenceHrushevskoho Street (''vulytsia Mykhaila Hrushevskoho'') and Institute Street (''vulytsia Instytutska''). Hrushevskoho Street is named after the Ukrainian academician, politician, historian, and statesman

, who wrote an academic book titled: "Bar Starostvo: Historical Notes: XV–XVIII" about the history of

Bar, Ukraine Bar ( ; ; ) is a city located on the Riv River in Vinnytsia Oblast, central Ukraine. It is located in the historic region of Podolia. It served as the administrative center of the former Bar Raion until 2020. The city's estimated population is 1 ...

. That portion of the city is also unofficially known as the government quarter (). The city state administration and council is in the Kyiv City council building on Khreshchatyk Street. The oblast state administration and council is in the oblast council building on ''ploshcha Lesi Ukrainky'' ("Lesya Ukrainka Square").

Politics

The growing political and economic role of the city, combined with its international relations, as well as extensive internet and social network penetration, have made Kyiv the most pro-Western and pro-democracy region of Ukraine; (so called) National Democratic

advocating tighter integration with the European Union receive most votes during

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

in Kyiv.Interactive parliamentary election 2012 result maps
by

Ukrayinska Pravda ''Ukrainska Pravda'' is a Ukrainian socio-political online media outlet founded by Heorhii Gongadze in April 2000. After Gongadze’s death in September 2000, the editorial team was led by co-founder Olena Prytula, who remained the editor-in ...

Election results in Ukraine since 1998
,

Central Election Commission of Ukraine The Central Election Commission of Ukraine (, commonly abbreviated as , ); sometimes referred to as the Central Electoral Commission of Ukraine) is a permanent and independent collegiate body of the Ukrainian state that acts on the basis of th ...

Nations and Nationalism: A Global Historical Overview
, ABC-CLIO, 2008, (page 1629)
Ukraine on its Meandering Path Between East and West
by Andrej Lushnycky and

Mykola Riabchuk Mykola Riabchuk (; born September 27, 1953) is a Ukrainian public intellectual, journalist, political analyst, Literary criticism, literary critic, translator and writer. Riabchuk is known for his analytical articles and essays on Ukrainian poli ...

, Peter Lang, 2009, (page 122)
After the parliamentary elections in Ukraine: a tough victory for the Party of Regions
, Centre for Eastern Studies (7 November 2012)
Communist and Post-Communist Parties in Europe
by Uwe Backes and Patrick Moreau,

Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht (V&R) is a scholarly publishing house based in Göttingen, Germany. It was founded in 1735 by (1700–1750) in connection with the establishment of the Georg-August-Universität in the same city. After Abraham Vandenh ...

, 2008, (page 396)
Party of Regions gets 185 seats in Ukrainian parliament, Batkivschyna 101 – CEC
,

(12 November 2012)
UDAR submits to Rada resolution on Ukraine's integration with EU

(8 January 2013)
Electronic Bulletin "Your Choice – 2012". Issue 4: Batkivshchyna
, Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research (24 October 2012)
Ukraine's Party System in Transition? The Rise of the Radically Right-Wing All-Ukrainian Association "Svoboda"
by Andreas Umland, Centre for Geopolitical Studies (1 May 2011)
In a poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology in the first half of February 2014, 5.3% of those polled in Kyiv believed "Ukraine and Russia must unite into a single state", nationwide this percentage was 12.5.

Subdivisions

Traditional subdivision

The

naturally divides Kyiv into the Right Bank and the Left Bank areas. Historically on the western right bank of the river, the city expanded into the left bank only in the 20th century. Most of Kyiv's attractions as well as the majority of business and governmental institutions are on the right bank. The eastern "Left Bank" is predominantly residential. There are large industrial and green areas in both the Right Bank and the Left Bank. Kyiv is further informally divided into historical or territorial neighbourhoods, each housing from about 5,000 to 100,000 inhabitants.

Formal subdivision

The first known formal subdivision of Kyiv dates to 1810 when the city was subdivided into 4 parts: Pechersk, Starokyiv, and the first and the second parts of Podil. In 1833–1834 according to

Tsar Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...

Nicholas I's decree, Kyiv was subdivided into 6 police

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 (

districts 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 counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

); later being increased to 10. In 1917, there were 8 Raion Councils (''Duma''), which were reorganised by

bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

s into 6 Party-Territory Raions. During the Soviet era, as the city was expanding, the number of raions also gradually increased. These newer districts of the city, along with some older areas were then named in honour of prominent communists and socialist-revolutionary figures; however, due to the way in which many communist party members eventually, after a certain period of time, fell out of favour and so were replaced with new, fresher minds, so too did the names of Kyiv's districts change accordingly. The last district reform took place in 2001 when the number of districts was decreased from 14 to 10. Under Oleksandr Omelchenko (mayor from 1999 to 2006), there were further plans for the merger of some districts and revision of their boundaries, and the total number of districts had been planned to be decreased from 10 to 7. With the election of the new mayor-elect (

Leonid Chernovetskyi Leonid Mykhaylovych Chernovetskyi (; born 25 November 1951) is a former Mayor of Kyiv, the capital (city), capital of Ukraine, from 2006 until the summer of 2012. He was a successful businessman, founder and controlling stakeholder of the Pravex ...

) in 2006, these plans were shelved. Each district has its own locally elected council with jurisdiction over a limited scope of affairs.Elections to Kyiv district councils will take place on October 30 [2022] – the decision of the Kyiv City Council
,

(3 February 2022)

Demographics

According to the official registration statistics, there were 2,847,200 residents within the city limits of Kyiv in July 2013.

Historical population

According to the All-Ukrainian Census, the population of Kyiv in 2001 was 2,611,327.The most recent Ukrainian census, conducted on 5 December 2001, gave the population of Kyiv as 2 611 300
Ukrcensus.gov.ua – Kyiv city
Web address accessed on 4 August 2007). Estimates based on the amount of bakery products sold in the city (thus including temporary visitors and commuters) suggest a minimum of 3.5 million.
There are up to 1.5 mln undercounted residents in Kiev
", ''

Korrespondent ''Korrespondent'' (; ; literally: ''Correspondent'') is a weekly printed magazine published in Ukraine in the Russian and Ukrainian languages. It is part of United Media Holding group, created by Boris Lozhkin and owned by Serhiy Kurchenko.

'', 15 June 2005 The historic changes in population are shown in the side table. According to the census, some 1,393,000 (53.3%) were female and 1,219,000 (46.7%) were male. Comparing the results with the previous census (1989) shows the trend of

population ageing Population ageing is an overall change in the ages of a population. This can typically be summarised in a single parameter as an increase in the median age. Causes are a long-term decline in fertility rates and a decline in mortality rates. Most ...

which, while prevalent throughout the country, is partly offset in Kyiv by the inflow of working age migrants. Some 1,069,700 people had higher or completed secondary education, a significant increase of 21.7% since 1989. The June 2007 unofficial population estimate based on amount of

bakery A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based baked goods made in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, doughnuts, bagels, Pastry, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as Coffeehouse, cafés, servi ...

products sold in the city (thus including temporary visitors and commuters) gave a number of at least 3.5 million people.

Ethnic composition

Kyiv's ethnic composition has shifted greatly over the last centuries. According to the , conducted by the local branch of the

Russian Geographical Society The Russian Geographical Society (), or RGO, is a learned society based in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It promotes geography, exploration and nature protection with research programs in fields including oceanography, ethnography, ecology and stati ...

, there were 127,205 people living in Kyiv. Of these, 80% spoke "

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

," 11% spoke "

Jewish 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 ...

," 6% spoke Polish and 2% spoke

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

. Of the "Russian" speakers, 39% were recorded as speaking Little Russian (Ukrainian), which meant that Ukrainian speakers accounted for 30% of the city as a whole. Of the remaining "Russian" speakers, however, there were only 10% who spoke Greater Russian (

) and 2% who spoke Belarusian. The remaining 49% spoke in "generally Russian speech." According to the official census of 1897, the number of Great Russian speakers rose to 54%; speakers of Little Russian accounted for 22%. Jewish speakers accounted for 12%, Polish 6.7%. By the September 1917 city-census of Kyiv, conducted by the authorities of the

, the Ukrainian share of the population had been reduced to only 16%, while Russians now made up a majority at 50%. The March 1919 Kyiv city census, conducted by the Bolshevik authorities, showed an increase in the percentage of the population identifying as Ukrainian to 25%. From then on, the city's Ukrainian population once again began to expand in terms of their share of the population, slowly returning to its former level. By the 1926 Soviet census, Ukrainians, at 41.6%, had once again begun to outnumber Russians, who made up 25.5%. By the 1959 Soviet census, Kyiv was once more a Ukrainian majority city, with 60% of the population identifying as such, the same percentage as in 1874. According to the 2001 census data, more than 130 nationalities and ethnic groups reside within the territory of Kyiv.

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 ...

constitute the largest

ethnic group An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...

in Kyiv, accounting for 2,110,800 people, or 82.2% of the population.

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 ...

comprise 337,300 (13.1%), Jews 17,900 (0.7%),

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 ...

16,500 (0.6%),

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

6,900 (0.3%),

Armenians Armenians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the Armenian highlands of West Asia.Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiq ...

4,900 (0.2%),

Azerbaijanis Azerbaijanis (; , ), Azeris (, ), or Azerbaijani Turks (, ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group living mainly in the Azerbaijan (Iran), Azerbaijan region of northwestern Iran and the Azerbaijan, Republic of Azerbaijan. They are predomin ...

2,600 (0.1%), Tatars 2,500 (0.1%),

Georgians Georgians, or Kartvelians (; ka, ქართველები, tr, ), are a nation and Peoples of the Caucasus, Caucasian ethnic group native to present-day Georgia (country), Georgia and surrounding areas historically associated with the Ge ...

2,400 (0.1%),

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 ...

1,900 (0.1%). A 2015 study by the

International Republican Institute The International Republican Institute (IRI) is an American nonprofit organization founded in 1983 and funded and supported by the United States federal government. Most of its board is drawn from the Republican Party. Its public mission is to a ...

found that 94% of Kyiv was ethnic Ukrainian, and 5% ethnic Russian. Most of the city's non-Slav population comprises Tatars, South Caucasians, and other peoples from the

former Soviet Union The post-Soviet states, also referred to as the former Soviet Union or the former Soviet republics, are the independent sovereign states that emerged/re-emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Prior to their independence, they ...

Language statistics

Both Ukrainian and Russian are commonly spoken in the city; approximately 75% of Kyiv's population responded "Ukrainian" to the 2001 census question on their native language, roughly 25% responded "Russian".According to the official 2001 census data: According to a 2006 survey, Ukrainian is used at home by 23% of Kyivans, 52% use Russian, and 24% switch between both."Kiev: the city, its residents, problems of today, wishes for tomorrow", '' Zerkalo Nedeli'', 29 April – 12 May 2006
in Russian

in Ukrainian
In the 2003 sociological survey, when the question "What language do you use in everyday life?" was asked, 52% said "mostly Russian", 32% "both Russian and Ukrainian in equal measure", 14% "mostly Ukrainian", and 4.3% "exclusively Ukrainian". According to the census of 1897, of Kyiv's approximately 240,000 people approximately 56% of the population spoke the Russian language, 23% spoke the Ukrainian language, 13% spoke Yiddish, 7% spoke Polish and 1% spoke the Belarusian language. A 2015 study by the International Republican Institute found that the languages spoken at home in Kyiv were Ukrainian (27%), Russian (32%), and an equal combination of Ukrainian and Russian (40%).

Jews

The Jews of Kyiv are first mentioned in a 10th-century letter. The Jewish population remained relatively small until the nineteenth century. A series of

pogrom A pogrom is a violent riot incited with the aim of Massacre, massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe late 19th- and early 20th-century Anti-Jewis ...

s was carried out in 1882, and another in 1905. On the eve of World War I, the city's Jewish population was over 81,000. In 1939 there were approximately 224,000 Jews in Kyiv, some of whom fled the city ahead of the German invasion of the Soviet Union that began in June 1941. On 29 and 30 September 1941, nearly 34,000 Kyivan Jews were massacred at Babi Yar by the Wehrmacht, SS, Ukrainian Auxiliary Police, and local collaborators. Jews began returning to Kyiv at the end of the war, but experienced another pogrom in September 1945. In the 21st century, Kyiv's Jewish community numbers about 20,000. There are two major synagogues in the city: the Great Choral Synagogue and the Brodsky Choral Synagogue.

Cityscape

Modern Kyiv is a mix of the old (Kyiv preserved about 70 percent of more than 1,000 buildings built during 1907–1914)Forgotten Soviet Plans For Kyiv
,

Kyiv Post The ''Kyiv Post'' is Ukraine’s first and most prominent English-language newspaper. It was founded in 1995 in Kyiv by American businessman Jed Sunden. In 2018, the publication was acquired by prominent Ukrainian businessman Adnan Kivan, foun ...

(28 July 2011) and the new, seen in everything from the architecture to the stores and to the people themselves. When the capital of the

was moved from

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

to Kyiv many new buildings were commissioned to give the city "the gloss and polish of a capital". In the discussions that centered on how to create a showcase city center, the current city center of Khreshchatyk and

Maidan Nezalezhnosti Maidan Nezalezhnosti (, ) or Independence Square is the central town square of Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine. One of the city's main squares, it is located on Khreshchatyk Street in the Shevchenko Raion. The square contains the iconic Ind ...

(Independence Square) were not the obvious choices. Some of the early, ultimately not materialised, ideas included a part of Pechersk,

Lypky Lypky () is an historic neighborhood of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv located in the administrative Pecherskyi District. The name is derived from a lime tree (Lypa). Lypky is the ''de facto'' government quarter of Ukraine hosting the buildings of th ...

, European Square, and Mykhailivska Square. The plans of building massive monuments (of

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

and Stalin) were also abandoned, due to lack of money (in the 1930s–1950s) and because of Kyiv's hilly landscape. Experiencing rapid population growth between the 1970s and the mid-1990s, the city has continued its consistent growth after the turn of the millennium. As a result, Kyiv's central districts provide a dotted contrast of new, modern buildings among the pale yellows, blues, and greys of older apartments.

Urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city". Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted ...

has gradually reduced, while population densities of suburbs has increased. The most expensive properties are in the Pechersk and Khreshchatyk areas. It is also prestigious to own a property in newly constructed buildings in the Kharkivskyi neighborhood or Obolon along the Dnieper. Ukrainian independence at the turn of the millennium has heralded other changes. Western-style residential complexes, modern

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

s, classy restaurants and prestigious hotels opened in the centre. And most importantly, with the easing of the visa rules in 2005, Ukraine is positioning itself as a prime tourist attraction, with Kyiv, among the other large cities, looking to profit from new opportunities. The centre of Kyiv has been cleaned up and buildings have been restored and redecorated, especially Khreshchatyk and Maidan Nezalezhnosti. Many historic areas of Kyiv, such as Andriivskyi Descent, have become popular street vendor locations, where one can find traditional Ukrainian art, religious items, books, game sets (most commonly

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

) as well as jewellery for sale. At the

United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 The 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly known as the Copenhagen Summit, was held at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, between 7 and 18 December. The conference included the 15th session of the Conference of the Partie ...

, Kyiv was the only

Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional organization, regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an ar ...

city to have been inscribed into the TOP30 European Green City Index (placed 30th). Kyiv's most famous historical architecture complexes are the St. Sophia Cathedral and the

Kyiv Pechersk Lavra The Kyiv Pechersk Lavra or Kyievo-Pecherska Lavra (), also known as the Kyiv Monastery of the Caves, is a historic lavra or large monastery of Eastern Christianity that gave its name to the Pecherskyi District where it is located in Kyiv. Sin ...

(Monastery of the Caves), which are recognized by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

as a

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

. Noteworthy historical architectural landmarks also include the

Mariinskyi Palace The Mariinskyi Palace () is the official residence of the president of Ukraine. The Elizabethan baroque palace is sited on the right bank of the Dnipro River in Kyiv, Ukraine, adjoining the Neoclassical architecture, neo-classical Verkhovna Rada ...

(designed and constructed from 1745 to 1752, then reconstructed in 1870), several

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

churches such as St. Michael's Cathedral, St. Andrew's, St. Volodymyr's, St. Cyril's, the reconstructed

Golden Gate The Golden Gate is a strait on the west coast of North America that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. It is defined by the headlands of the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Peninsula, and, since 1937, has been spanned by ...

and others. One of Kyiv's widely recognized modern landmarks is the highly visible giant

Mother Ukraine ''Mother Ukraine'' or ''Statue of Liberty'' ( ) is a monumental Soviet-era statue in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. The sculpture is a part of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War. In 2023, the Soviet heraldry wa ...

statue made of titanium standing at the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War on the Right bank of the Dnieper. Other notable sites is the cylindrical Salut hotel, across from Glory Square and the

eternal flame An eternal flame is a flame, lamp or torch that burns for an indefinite time. Most eternal flames are ignited and tended intentionally, but some are natural phenomena caused by natural gas leaks, peat fires and coal seam fires, all of which ca ...

at the World War Two memorial Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and the

House with Chimaeras House with Chimaeras (, ) or Horodetsky House (named for Władysław Horodecki) is an Art Nouveau building located in the Subdivisions of Kyiv#Historical neighborhoods, historic Lypky neighborhood of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. Situated across ...

. Among Kyiv's best-known monuments are

Mikhail Mikeshin Mikhail Osipovich Mikeshin (; 9 February 1835 – 19 January 1896) was a Russian artist who regularly worked for the Romanov family and designed a number of outdoor statues in the major cities of the Russian Empire. Biography Mikeshin was born ...

's statue of

Bohdan Khmelnytsky Zynoviy Bohdan Mykhailovych Khmelnytsky of the Abdank coat of arms (Ruthenian language, Ruthenian: Ѕѣнові Богданъ Хмелнiцкiи; modern , Polish language, Polish: ; 15956 August 1657) was a Ruthenian nobility, Ruthenian noble ...

astride his horse near St. Sophia Cathedral, the venerated

Vladimir the Great Vladimir I Sviatoslavich or Volodymyr I Sviatoslavych (; Christian name: ''Basil''; 15 July 1015), given the epithet "the Great", was Prince of Novgorod from 970 and Grand Prince of Kiev from 978 until his death in 1015. The Eastern Orthodox ...

(St. Vladimir), the baptizer of Rus', overlooking the river above Podil from Saint Volodymyr Hill, the monument to Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv and Lybid, the legendary founders of the city at the Dnieper embankment. On Independence Square in the city centre, two monuments elevate two of the city protectors; the historic protector of Kyiv Michael Archangel atop a reconstruction of one of the old city's gates and a modern invention, the goddess-protector Berehynia atop a tall column. File:Golden Gate Kiev 2018 G1.jpg, Golden Gate File:Київ, Собор Успенський, Лаврська вул. 9.jpg, Holy Dormition Cathedral File:St. Sophia's.jpg, St. Sophia Cathedral File:St. Volodymyr's Cathedral in Kiev.jpg, St. Volodymyr's Cathedral File:80-391-9007 Kyiv St.Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery RB 18.jpg, St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery File:Pokrova Nunnery Kyiv.JPG, Cathedral of St Nicholas, Pokrovsky Nunnery File:St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Cathedral, Kyiv 8.jpg, St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Cathedral File:Kyiv, St Andrew church (2).jpg, Saint Andrew's Church File:Маріїнський палац в Києві.jpg, Mariinskyi Palace File:National Bank of Ukraine new.jpg,

National Bank of Ukraine The National Bank of Ukraine ( ; NBU []) is the central bank of Ukraine. Created in 1991 from the Ukrainian operations of the Soviet Gosbank, the NBU employs over 12,000 people, making it one of the largest employers in the financial sector in ...

File:Будинок із химерами 4.jpg, "House with Chimaeras" File:Brodsky Synagogue.jpg, Brodsky Choral Synagogue – Moorish Revival architecture

Culture

Kyiv was the historic cultural centre of the East Slavic civilization and a major cradle for the Christianization of Kievan Rus. Kyiv retained through centuries its cultural importance and even at times of relative decay, it remained the centre of primary importance of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Its sacred sites of Kyiv Pechersk Lavra (the Monastery of the Caves) and the Saint Sophia Cathedral are attracting pilgrims for centuries and recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, remaining the primary religious centres as well as major tourist attractions. The above-mentioned sites are also part of the Seven Wonders of Ukraine collection. In September 2023, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee placed the Saint Sophia Cathedral and Kyiv Pechersk Lavra on the

List of World Heritage in Danger The List of World Heritage in Danger is compiled by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) through the World Heritage Committee according to Article 11.4 of the World Heritage Convention,Full title: ''Conv ...

. According to the committee, although the Ukrainian government has taken action to protect the sites, "optimal conditions are no longer met to fully guarantee the protection of the Outstanding Universal Value of the property and that it is threatened by potential danger due to the war”. The list is protected by the 1972 UNESCO Convention, ratified by both Russia and Ukraine. Inclusion on the list is intended to mobilize urgent international support. Kyiv's theatres include the Kyiv Opera House, Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theater, Lesya Ukrainka National Academic Theater, the Kyiv Puppet Theater, October Palace, National Philharmonic of Ukraine and others. In 1946 Kyiv had four theatres, one opera house and one concert hall,The Ukraine
,

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

, 28 October 1946 but most tickets then were allocated to "privileged groups". Other significant cultural centres include the Dovzhenko Film Studios, and the Kyiv Circus. The most important of the city's many museums are the National Museum of the History of Ukraine, the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War, the National Art Museum, the Museum of Western and Oriental Art, the Pinchuk Art Centre, the Kyiv Picture Gallery National Museum, and the Ivan Honchar Museum. In 2005, Kyiv hosted the 50th annual

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

and in 2017 the 62nd annual Eurovision Song Contest. Numerous songs and paintings were dedicated to the city. Some songs became part of Russian, Ukrainian and Jewish folklore. The most popular songs are " How not to love you, Kyiv of mine?" and "Kyiv Waltz". Renowned Ukrainian composer Oleksandr Bilash wrote an operetta called "Legend of Kyiv".

Attractions

It is said that one can walk from one end of Kyiv to the other in the summertime without leaving the shade of its many trees. Most characteristic are the

horse-chestnut ''Aesculus hippocastanum'', the horse chestnut, is a species of flowering plant in the maple, soapberry and lychee family Sapindaceae. It is a large, deciduous, synoecious (hermaphroditic-flowered) tree. It is also called horse-chestnut, Europ ...

s (, ). Kyiv is known as a green city with two botanical gardens and numerous large and small parks. The National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War is here, which offers both indoor and outdoor displays of military history and equipment surrounded by verdant hills overlooking the Dnieper river. Among the numerous islands, Venetsiiskyi (or Hydropark) is the most developed. It is accessible by metro or by car, and includes an amusement park, swimming beaches, boat rentals, and night clubs. Other major islands include Trukhaniv, Muromets, and Dolobetskyi. The Victory Park (''Park Peremohy'') near Darnytsia subway station is a popular destination for strollers, joggers, and cyclists. Boating, fishing, and water sports are popular pastimes in Kyiv. The area lakes and rivers freeze over in the winter and ice fishermen are a frequent sight, as are children with their ice skates. However, the peak of summer draws out a greater mass of people to the shores for swimming or sunbathing, with daytime high temperatures sometimes reaching . The centre of Kyiv (

and Khreshchatyk Street) becomes a large outdoor party place at night during summer months, with thousands of people having a good time in nearby restaurants, clubs and outdoor cafes. The central streets are closed for auto traffic on weekends and holidays. Andriivskyi Descent is one of the best known historic streets and a major tourist attraction in Kyiv. The hill is the site of the Castle of Richard the Lionheart; the baroque-style St Andrew's Church; the

home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or more human occupants, and sometimes various companion animals. Homes provide sheltered spaces, for instance rooms, where domestic activity can be p ...

of the Kyiv-born writer

Mikhail Bulgakov Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov ( ; rus, links=no, Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ɐfɐˈnasʲjɪvʲɪdʑ bʊlˈɡakəf; – 10 March 1940) was a Russian and Soviet novelist and playwright. His novel ''The M ...

; the monument to

Yaroslav the Wise Yaroslav I Vladimirovich ( 978 – 20 February 1054), better known as Yaroslav the Wise, was Grand Prince of Kiev from 1019 until his death in 1054. He was also earlier Prince of Novgorod from 1010 to 1034 and Prince of Rostov from 987 to 1010, ...

, the Grand Prince of Kyiv and

Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( ; , ; ), also known simply as Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the oldest cities in Russia, being first mentioned in the 9th century. The city lies along the V ...

; and numerous other monuments. A wide variety of farm produce is available in many of Kyiv's farmer markets with the Bessarabskyi Market in the very centre of the city being most famous. Each residential region has its own market, or ''rynok''. Here one will find table after table of individuals hawking everything imaginable: vegetables, fresh and smoked meats, fish, cheese, honey, dairy products such as milk and home-made '' smetana'' (sour cream),

caviar Caviar or caviare is a food consisting of salt-cured roe of the family Acipenseridae. Caviar is considered a delicacy and is eaten as a garnish or spread. Traditionally, the term caviar refers only to roe from wild sturgeon in the Caspi ...

, cut flowers, housewares, tools and hardware, and clothing. Each of the markets has its own unique mix of products with some markets devoted solely to specific wares such as automobiles, car parts, pets, clothing, flowers, and other things. At the city's southern outskirts, near the historic Pyrohiv village, there is an outdoor museum officially called the Museum of Folk Architecture and Life of Ukraine. It has an area of . This territory houses several "mini-villages" that represent by region the traditional rural architecture of Ukraine. Kyiv also has numerous recreational attractions like bowling alleys, go-cart tracks, paintball venues, billiard halls and even shooting ranges. The 100-year-old Kyiv Zoo is on 40 hectares and according to CBC "the zoo has 2,600 animals from 328 species".

Museums and galleries

Kyiv is home to some 40 different museums. In 2009 they recorded a total of 4.3 million visits. The National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War is a memorial complex commemorating the Eastern Front of World War II in the hills on the right-bank of the Dnieper in Pechersk. Kyiv Fortress is the 19th-century

fortification A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lati ...

buildings situated in Ukrainian capital Kyiv, that once belonged to

western Russian fortresses The Western Russian fortresses are a system of fortifications built by the Russian Empire in Eastern Europe in the early 19th century. The fortifications were constructed in three chains at strategic locations along Russia's western border, pri ...

. These structures (once a united complex) were built in the Pechersk and neighbourhoods by the Russian army. Some of the buildings are restored and turned into a museum, while others are in use in various military and commercial installations. The National Art Museum of Ukraine is a museum dedicated to Ukrainian art. The

is a historic gateway in the ancient city's walls. The name ''Zoloti Vorota'' (Golden Gate) is also used for a nearby theatre and a station of the

. The small

Ukrainian National Chernobyl Museum The Ukrainian National Chernobyl Museum ('', Ukrayins'kyy natsional'nyy muzey "Chornobyl'"'') is a history museum in Kyiv, Ukraine, dedicated to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and its consequences. It houses an extensive collection of visual media, ...

acts as both a memorial and historical center devoted to the events surrounding the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and its effect on the Ukrainian people, the environment, and subsequent attitudes toward the safety of

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by ...

as a whole.

Sports

Kyiv has many professional and amateur football clubs, including

Dynamo Kyiv The Football Club 'Dynamo Kyiv', also known as Dynamo Kyiv, or simply Dynamo, ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society ...

, Arsenal Kyiv and FC Obolon Kyiv but only Dynamo Kyiv play in the

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( ) or UPL is a professional association football league in Ukraine and the highest level of the Ukrainian football league system. Originally known as the Vyshcha Liha ( , ) it was formed in 1991 during the 1992 in ...

. Of these three, Dynamo Kyiv has had the most success over the course of its history. For example, up until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the club won 13 USSR Championships, 9 USSR Cups, and 3

USSR Super Cup The USSR Super Cup,, , , also known as the Season's Cup, was an unofficial exhibition game (or game series) not sanctioned by the Football Federation of the Soviet Union and that featured the winners of the previous season's Soviet Top League a ...

s, thus making Dynamo the most successful club in the history of the Soviet Top League.Trophies of Dynamo
– Official website of Dynamo Kyiv Other prominent non-football sport clubs in the city include: the Sokil Kyiv ice hockey club and BC Budivelnyk basketball club. Both of these teams play in the highest Ukrainian leagues for their respective sports. Budivelnyk was founded in 1945, Sokil was founded in 1963, during the existence of the Soviet Union. Both these teams play their home games at the Kyiv Palace of Sports. Kyiv NSC Olimpiyskyi 5

During the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

held in the Soviet Union, Kyiv held the preliminary matches and the quarter-finals of the football tournament at its

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports ...

, which was reconstructed specially for the event. From 1 December 2008, the stadium underwent a full-scale reconstruction in order to satisfy standards put in place by

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

for hosting the

Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

football tournament; the opening ceremony took place in the presence of president

Viktor Yanukovych Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych (born 9 July 1950) is a Ukrainian politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 to 2014. He also served as the prime minister of Ukraine several times between 2002 and 2007 and was a member of t ...

on 8 October 2011, with the first major event being a

Shakira Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( , ; born 2 February 1977) is a Colombian singer-songwriter. Referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Latin Music", she has had a Cultural impact of Shakira, significant impact on the ...

concert which was specially planned to coincide with the stadium's re-opening during Euro 2012. Other notable sport stadiums/sport complexes in Kyiv include the Valeriy Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium, the Palace of Sports, among many others. Most Ukrainian national teams play their home international matches in Kyiv. The

Ukraine national football team The Ukraine national football team ( ) represents Ukraine in men's international Association football, football, and is governed by the Ukrainian Association of Football, the governing body for football in Ukraine. Ukraine's home ground is the ...

, for example, will play matches at the re-constructed Olympic Stadium from 2011.

Tourism

Since introducing a visa-free regime for EU-member states and Switzerland in 2005, Ukraine has seen a steady increase in the number of foreign tourists visiting the country. Before the 2008–2009 Ukrainian financial crisis, the average annual growth in the number of foreign visits in Kyiv was 23% over a three-year period. In 2009, a total of 1.6 million tourists stayed in Kyiv hotels, of whom almost 259,000 ( 16%) were foreigners. After UEFA Euro 2012, the city became the most popular destination for European tourists. A record number of 1.8 million foreign tourists was registered then along with about 2.5 million domestic tourists. More than 850,000 foreign tourists visited Kyiv in the first half of 2018, as compared to 660,000 tourists over the same period in 2013. As of 2018, the hotel occupancy rate from May to September averages 45–50%. Hostels and three-star hotels are approximately 90% full, four-star hotels 65–70%. Six five-star hotels average 50–55% occupancy. Ordinary tourists generally come from May to October, and business tourists from September to May.

City anthem

In 2014, the Kyiv city's council established the city's anthem.The Kyiv council approved the Kyiv city anthem (Київрада затвердила гімн Києва)
.

. 13 November 2014 It became a 1962 song, " Yak tebe ne liubyty, Kyieve mii!" (, roughly "How can I not love you, Kyiv of mine!").

City symbols

The horse chestnut tree is one of the symbols of Kyiv."Thujoy Khreshchatyk". Why Kyivans miss chestnuts and how they became a symbol of the capital
,

(29 May 2019) It was heavily present on the city's coat of arms used from 1969 to 1995.

Economy

As with most capital cities, Kyiv is a major administrative, cultural, and scientific centre of the country. It is the largest city in Ukraine in terms of both population and area and enjoys the highest levels of business activity. On 1 January 2010, there were around 238,000

business entities In law, a legal person is any person or legal entity that can do the things a human person is usually able to do in law – such as enter into contracts, sue and be sued, own property, and so on. The reason for the term "''legal'' person" is t ...

registered in Kyiv. Official figures show that between 2004 and 2008 Kyiv's economy outstripped the rest of the country's, growing by an annual average of 11.5%. Following the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.

, Kyiv's economy suffered a severe setback in 2009 with

gross regional product Gross regional domestic product (GRDP), gross domestic product of region (GDPR), or gross state product (GSP) is a statistic that measures the size of a region's economy. It is the aggregate of gross value added (GVA) of all resident producer unit ...

contracting by 13.5% in real terms. Although a record high, the decline in activity was 1.6

percentage points A percentage point or percent point is the unit (measurement), unit for the difference (mathematics), arithmetic difference between two percentages. For example, moving up from 40 percent to 44 percent is an increase of 4 percentage points (altho ...

smaller than that for the country as a whole. The economy in Kyiv, as in the rest of Ukraine, recovered somewhat in 2010 and 2011. Kyiv is a middle-income city, with prices comparable to many mid-size American cities (i.e., considerably lower than Western Europe). Because the city has a large and diverse economic base and is not dependent on any single industry or company, its unemployment rate has historically been relatively low – only 3.75% over 2005–2008. Indeed, even as the rate of joblessness jumped to 7.1% in 2009, it remained far below the national average of 9.6%. As of January 2022, the average monthly salary in Kyiv reached 21,347 UAH (€540) gross and 17,184 UAH (€430) net. Kyiv is the undisputed center of business and commerce of Ukraine and home to the country's largest companies, such as Naftogaz Ukrainy, Energorynok and Kyivstar. In 2010, the city accounted for 18% of national retail sales and 24% of all construction activity. Real estate is one of the major forces in Kyiv's economy. Average prices of

apartments An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement (Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that ...

are the highest in the country and among the highest in eastern Europe. Kyiv also ranks high in terms of

commercial real estate Commercial property, also called commercial real estate, investment property or income property, is real estate (buildings or land) intended to generate a profit, either from capital gains or rental income. Commercial property includes office bu ...

and has Ukraine's tallest

office building An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform administrative work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific du ...

s (such as Gulliver and Parus) and some of Ukraine's biggest shopping malls (such as Dream Town and Ocean Plaza). In May 2011, Kyiv authorities presented a 15-year development strategy which calls for attracting as much as EUR82 billion of foreign investment by 2025 to modernize the city's transport and utilities infrastructure and make it more attractive for tourists. * – data not available; ** – calculated at annual average official exchange rate; *** – ILO methodology (% of

workforce In macroeconomics, the workforce or labour force is the sum of people either working (i.e., the employed) or looking for work (i.e., the unemployed): \text = \text + \text Those neither working in the marketplace nor looking for work are out ...

Industry

Primary industries in Kyiv include

utilities A public utility company (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and r ...

– i.e., electricity, gas and water supply (26% of total industrial output), manufacture of food, beverages and tobacco products (22%),

chemical A chemical substance is a unique form of matter with constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Chemical substances may take the form of a single element or chemical compounds. If two or more chemical substances can be combin ...

(17%),

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

(13%) and manufacture of paper and paper products, including publishing, printing and reproduction of recorded media (11%). The Institute of Oil Transportation is headquartered here.

Manufacture

* Kuznia na Rybalskomu, naval production *

Antonov Serial Production Plant The Antonov Serial Production Plant (), formerly AVIANT (), is an aircraft manufacturing company in Kyiv, Ukraine, the serial manufacturing division of the Antonov. “Antonov” serial production plant's office and industrial premises are locat ...

(former Aviant), airplanes manufacturing * Aeros, small aircraft production * Kyiv Roshen Factory, confectionery * Kyiv Arsenal (former arms manufacturer), specializes in production of optic-precision instruments * Obolon, brewery * Kyiv Aircraft Repair Plant 410, repair factory at Zhuliany Airport

Education and science

Scientific research

Scientific research is conducted in many institutes of higher education and, additionally, in many

research institute A research institute, research centre, or research organization is an establishment founded for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research. Although the term often implies natural ...

s affiliated with the

Ukrainian Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU; , ; ''NAN Ukrainy'') is a self-governing state-funded organization in Ukraine that is the main center of development of Science and technology in Ukraine, science and technology by coordinatin ...

. Kyiv is home to Ukraine's ministry of education and science, and is also noted for its contributions to medical and computer science research. In 2016, UNIT Factory (Ukrainian National IT Factory) opened. It offers a completely new format of IT education. The education is completely free for all trainees subject to compliance with the terms of the program. Within this project are the Technology Companies' Development Center (TCDC), BIONIC University open inter-corporate IT-university, as well as two hi-tech laboratories—VR Lab (Crytek) and Smart City lab.

University education

Kyiv hosts many universities, the major ones being Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University, the National Technical University "Kyiv Polytechnic Institute", Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and the Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics. Of these, the Mohyla Academy is the oldest, founded as a theological school in 1632, but Shevchenko University, founded in 1834, is the oldest in continuous operation. The total number of institutions of higher education in Kyiv approaches 200, allowing young people to pursue almost any line of study. While education traditionally remains largely in the hands of the state there are several accredited private institutions in the city.

Secondary education

There are about 530 general secondary schools and about 680 nursery schools and

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

s in Kyiv. Additionally, there are evening schools for adults, specialist technical schools, and the Evangel Theological Seminary.

Public libraries

There are many libraries in the city, with the Vernadsky National Library, which is Ukraine's main

academic library An academic library is a library that is attached to a higher education institution, which supports the curriculum and the research of the university faculty and students. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there are an es ...

and scientific information centre, as well as one of the world's largest

national libraries A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, or significant ...

, being the largest and most important one. The National Library is affiliated with the Academy of Sciences in so far as it is a deposit library and thus serves as the academy's archives' store. The national library is the world's foremost repository of Jewish folk music recorded on Edison wax cylinders. Their Collection of Jewish Musical Folklore (1912–1947) was inscribed on UNESCO's

Memory of the World Register UNESCO's Memory of the World (MoW) Programme is an international initiative to safeguard the documentary heritage of humanity against collective amnesia, neglect, decay over time and climatic conditions, as well as deliberate destruction. It ca ...

in 2005.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Local public transport

Local public transportation in Kyiv includes the Metro, buses and

minibuses A minibus, microbus, or minicoach is a passenger-carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, the word "minibus" is us ...

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...

es,

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...

and

funicular A funicular ( ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep grade (slope), slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to ...

. There is also an intra-city ring railway service. The publicly owned and operated Kyiv Metro is the fastest, the most convenient and affordable network that covers most, but not all, of the city. The Metro is expanding towards the city limits to meet growing demand, having three lines with a total length of and 51 stations (some of which are renowned architectural landmarks). The Metro carries around 1.422 million passengers daily accounting for 38% of the Kyiv's public transport load. In 2011, the total number of trips exceeded 519 million. The historic tram system was the first electric tramway in the former Russian Empire and the third one in Europe after the Berlin Straßembahn and the

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

tramway. The tram system consists of of track, including two Rapid Tram lines, served by 21 routes with the use of 523 tram cars. Once a well maintained and widely used method of transport, the system is now gradually being phased out in favor of buses and trolleybuses. The Kyiv Funicular was constructed during 1902–1905. It connects the historic Uppertown, and the lower commercial neighborhood of Podil through the steep Saint Volodymyr Hill overseeing the Dnieper River. The line consists of two stations. All public road transport (except for some minibuses) is operated by the united Kyivpastrans municipal company. It is heavily subsidized by the city. The Kyiv public transport system, except for taxi, uses a simple flat rate tariff system regardless of distance traveled: tickets or tokens must be purchased each time a vehicle is boarded. Digital ticket system is already established in Kyiv Metro, with plans for other transport modes. The cost of one ride is far lower than in Western Europe. The taxi market in Kyiv is expansive but not regulated. In particular, the taxi fare per kilometer is not regulated. There is a fierce competition between private taxi companies.

Roads and bridges

Kyiv represents the focal point of Ukraine's "national roads" system, thus linked by road to all cities of the country. international E-road network, European routes Tabliczka E40

and

intersect in Kyiv. There are eight Dnieper bridges and dozens of grade separation, grade-separated intersections in the city. Several new intersections are under construction. There are plans to build a full-size, fully grade-separated ring road around Kyiv. In 2009, Kyiv's roads were in poor technical condition and maintained inadequately. Traffic congestion, Traffic jams and lack of parking space are growing problems for all road transport services in Kyiv.

Air transport

Kyiv is served by two international passenger airports: the Boryspil International Airport, Boryspil Airport away, and the smaller, municipally owned Zhuliany Airport on the southern outskirts of the city. There are also the Hostomel Airport, Hostomel cargo airport and additional three operating airfields facilitating the Antonov, Antonov aircraft manufacturing company and general aviation.

Railways

Railways are Kyiv's main mode of intracity- and suburban transportation. The city has a developed railroad infrastructure including a long-distance passenger station, 6 cargo stations, depots, and repairing facilities. However, this system still fails to meet the demand for passenger service. Particularly, the Kyiv-Pasazhyrskyi railway station is the city's only long-distance passenger terminal (''vokzal''). Construction is underway for turning the large Darnytsia railway station on the left-bank part of Kyiv into a long-distance passenger hub, which may ease traffic at the central station. Bridges in Kyiv, Bridges over the Dnieper River are another problem restricting the development of city's railway system. Presently, only one rail bridge out of two is available for intense train traffic. A new combined rail-auto bridge is under construction, as a part of Darnytsia project. In 2011, the Kyiv city administration established the new Urban Train for Kyiv. This service runs at standard 4- to 10-minute intervals throughout the day and follows a circular route around the city centre, which allows it to serve many of Kyiv's inner suburbs. Interchanges between the Kyiv Metro and Fast Tram exist at many of the urban train's station stops. Suburban 'Kyiv City Express' trains (colloquially known as ''Elektrichka, elektrychka'') are serviced by the publicly owned Ukrainian Railways. The suburban train service is fast, and unbeatably safe in terms of traffic accidents. But the trains are not reliable, as they may fall significantly behind schedule, may not be safe in terms of crime, and the ''elektrychka'' cars are poorly maintained and overcrowded in rush hours. There are nine ''elektrychka'' directions from Kyiv: * Bila Tserkva – Uzyn * Fastiv * Klavdiievo-Tarasove, Klavdiievo * Myronivka – Bohuslav * Nizhyn * Ukrainka, Kyiv Oblast, Ukrainka * Vasylkiv * Vyshhorod * Yahotyn More than a dozen of ''elektrychka'' stops are within the city allowing residents of different neighborhoods to use the suburban trains.

Energy

(formerly Kyivenergo) is the electric power distribution network operator for Kyiv, owned by oligarch Rinat Akhmetov. it had: * 12,038 km of power transmission lines with a voltage of 0.4–110 kV * 64 electrical substation, substations with a voltage of 35–110 kV * 243 switchgears and 3728 transformer substations at 10 kV operates a centralized heating system, which provides heating and hot water to customers through a network of pipes that distribute hot water from centralized heating plants to buildings throughout the city. It operates a 2700 km network, two of the largest cogeneration, combined heat and power plants in Ukraine CHP-5 and CHP-6, as well as the only waste incineration plant operating in Ukraine. In line with the EU Third Energy Package, since 2019 state energy policy abandoned the Rotterdam plus system and has required transmission system operator (TSO) and regional utilities unbundling in order to separate electricity distribution and retail electricity supply.

Water and sanitation

The national government has delegated responsibility for water and sanitation services to local authorities. is a joint-stock company#Ukraine, private joint-stock company that provides such services to Kyiv. The length of water supply networks is 4231 km, of which 1798 km are dilapidated. The length of sewage networks is 2662 km, of which 830 km are dilapidated.

Twin towns – sister cities

Kyiv is Sister city, twinned with: * Ankara, Turkey (1993) * Ashgabat, Turkmenistan (2001) * Astana, Kazakhstan (1998) * Athens, Greece (1996) * Baku, Azerbaijan (1997) * Beijing, China (1993) * Berlin, Germany (2023) * Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (1997) * Brasília, Brazil (2000) * Bratislava, Slovakia (1969) * Brussels, Belgium (1997) * Bucharest, Romania (2022) * Buenos Aires, Argentina (2000) * Chicago, United States (1991) * Chișinău, Moldova (1993) * Copenhagen, Denmark (2023) * Edinburgh, Scotland (1989) * Florence, Italy (1967) * Jakarta, Indonesia (2005) * Kraków, Poland (1993) * Kyoto, Japan (1971) * Leipzig, Germany (1956) * Lima, Peru (2005) * Mexico City, Mexico (1997) * Munich, Germany (1989) * Odense Municipality, Odense, Denmark (1989) * Osh Region, Kyrgyzstan (2002) * Pretoria, South Africa (1993) * Riga, Latvia (1998) * Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2000) * Santiago, Chile (1998) * Sofia, Bulgaria (1997) * Suzhou, Jiangsu, Suzhou, China (2005) * Tallinn, Estonia (1994) * Tampere, Finland (1954) * Tashkent, Uzbekistan (1998) * Tbilisi, Georgia (1999) * Toulouse, France (1975) * Vilnius, Lithuania (1991) * Warsaw, Poland (1994) * Wuhan, China (1990)

Other cooperation agreements

* Belgrade, Serbia (2002) * Helsinki, Finland * Jerusalem, Israel (2000) * Lisbon, Portugal * Paris, France * Rome, Italy * Stockholm, Sweden * Toronto, Canada (1991) * Tripoli, Libya (2001) * Vienna, Austria * Yerevan, Armenia (1995)

Notable people

Arts, literature, and entertainment

* Leonid Bronevoy (1928–2017), Soviet and Russian actor *

(1891–1940), Soviet writer, medical doctor and playwright * Eugenia Chuprina (born 1971), poet, novelist, writer and playwright * Daniel the Traveller, 12th-century travel writer from the

* Ilya Ehrenburg (1891–1967), Soviet writer, journalist, translator and cultural figure * André Grabar (1896–1990), historian of Romanesque art and the art of the Eastern Roman Empire and the Bulgarian Empire * Selma Gubin (1903–1974), Russian-born American artist * Dmytro Hnatyuk (1925–2016), Soviet and Ukrainian opera singer * Olha Haidamaka (born 1990), Ukrainian artist * Milton Horn (1906–1995), Russian-American sculptor * Vladimir Horowitz (1903–1989), American classical pianist * Viktor Ivanov (film director), Viktor Ivanov (1909–1981), Soviet film director * Milla Jovovich (born 1975), American actress * Sonya Koshkina (born 1985), Ukrainian journalist, editor-in-chief * Kateryna Kukhar (born 1982), prima ballerina * Danylo Knyshuk (born 1978), Ukrainian sculptor * Viacheslav Kryshtofovych (born 1947), Ukrainian film director and actor * Ana Layevska (born 1982), Ukrainian-Mexican actress * Boris Levit-Broun (born 1950), Russian poet, writer, and artist * Serge Lifar (1905–1986), French ballet dancer * Kazimir Malevich (1879–1935), pioneer of geometric abstract art and the originator of the avant-garde Suprematism, Suprematist movement * Natalya Marchenkova (born 1948), animator and animation director, born in Kyiv * Natalia Matsak (born 1982), ballet dancer * Galyna Moskvitina (born 1963), painter * Ivan Putrov (born 1980), dancer, former Principal with The Royal Ballet in London * Maksym Petrenko (1983–2022), Ukrainian writer, scientist, inventor, educator, soldier * Yudif Grigorevna Rozhavskaya (1923–1982), composer and pianist * Yuriy Rybchynskyi (born 1945), poet and playwright * Natalya Semenchenko (born 1976), professor, writer, and publicist * Lev Shestov (1866–1938), Russian Existentialism, existentialist philosopher * Oksana Shvets (1955–2022), Ukrainian actress * Kostiantyn Stohnyi (born 1968), journalist * Alexander Vertinsky (1889–1957), singer, composer, poet, cabaret artist and actor * Ludmila Anatolievna Yaroshevskaya (1906–1975), composer * Artemy Vedel (1767–1808), composer * Sergei Udovik (1956), publisher, photographer and writer

Science and technology

* Nikolai Amosov (1913–2002), Soviet and Ukrainian heart surgeon and inventor * Zino Davidoff (1906–1994), Swiss premium tobacco manufacturer; known as "King of Cigars" * Jan Koum (born 1976), American computer programmer, CEO and co-founder of WhatsApp * Viktor Kaspruk, (born 1955), political scientist * Alexander Ostrowski (1893–1986), mathematician * Borys Paton (1918–2020), scientist, chairman of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine * Igor Sikorsky (1889–1972), Russian-American aviation pioneer * Svetlana Zaginaichenko (1957–2015), physicist

Politics

* Golda Meir (1898–1978), Israeli politician, the fourth Prime Minister of Israel * Henry P. Melnikow, economic consultant to unions involved in labor

Religion

* Nikolai Berdyaev (1874–1948), Russian Orthodox religious and political philosopher * Jonathan Markovitch (born 1967), Chief Rabbi of Kyiv * Petro Mohyla (1596–1647), Metropolitan bishop of Kyiv from 1633 * Mikhail Morgulis (1941–2021), Russian-language writer, editor and theologian * Moses of Kiev, 12th century Talmudist * Theophan Prokopovich (1681–1736), theologian, poet, mathematician and philosopher

Military conflicts

* Eugeniusz Horbaczewski (1917–1944), Polish fighter pilot * Yuliia Paievska, Yuliia "Taira" Paievska (born 1968), founder of "Taira's Angels"

Sport

* Oleg Blokhin (born 1952), Ukrainian football player * Oleg Ladik (born 1971), Ukrainian-born Canadian Olympic wrestler * Valeriy Lobanovskyi (1939–2002), Soviet and Ukrainian football coach * Oleksandr Saliuk Jr. (born 1978), Ukrainian rally driver * Andriy Shevchenko (born 1976), Ukrainian footballer * Igor Slyusar (born 1989), Ukrainian professional ice hockey player * Igor Skuz (born 1976), Ukrainian racing driver

Other

(), Rurik dynasty, Rurikid prince who ruled 882–912 * Olga of Kiev (), a regent of

for her son Sviatoslav I, Sviatoslav from 945 until 960 * Nicholas Pritzker, scion of the Pritzker Family *

(), Grand Prince of Kiev and ruler of

from 980 to 1015 * Israel Markovich Brodsky (1823–1888), businessman and philanthropist

Honour

* Kyiv Peninsula in Graham Land, Antarctica, is named after the city of Kyiv.Kyiv Peninsula.
SCAR Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica.

Notes

References

External links

Київська міська державна адміністрація
– official web portal of the Kyiv City State Administration *
Kyiv—Official Tourist Guide
{{Authority control Kyiv, Capitals in Europe Cities with special status in Ukraine Holy cities Populated places established in the 5th century Magdeburg rights Holocaust locations in Ukraine Populated places on the Dnieper in Ukraine Oblast centers in Ukraine Kyiv metropolitan area

Name

History

Founding

Russian suzerainty

Soviet era

Independence

Environment

Geography

Climate

Legal status, local government and politics

Legal status and local government

Politics

Subdivisions

Traditional subdivision

Formal subdivision

Demographics

Historical population

Ethnic composition

Language statistics

Jews

Cityscape

Culture

Attractions

Museums and galleries

Sports

Tourism

City anthem

City symbols

Economy

Industry

Manufacture

Education and science

Scientific research

University education

Secondary education

Public libraries

Infrastructure

Transportation

Local public transport

Roads and bridges

Air transport

Railways

Energy

Water and sanitation

Twin towns – sister cities

Other cooperation agreements

Notable people

Arts, literature, and entertainment

Science and technology

Politics

Religion

Military conflicts

Sport

Other

Honour

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links