This is a list of historical regions in present-day

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 ...

Main historical regions

Traditional regions

The traditional names of the regions of Ukraine are important geographic, historical, and ethnographic identifiers. * Over-Dnieper Ukraine, or Great Ukraine ** Coat of arms of Kiev

Land of Kyiv ***

Right-bank Ukraine The Right-bank Ukraine is a historical and territorial name for a part of modern Ukraine on the right (west) bank of the Dnieper River, corresponding to the modern-day oblasts of Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, as well as the western parts o ...

(east of Zhytomyr Oblast, Kyiv Oblast, Cherkasy Oblast), Central Ukraine ***

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 ...

, Land of Turov (north of Kyiv Oblast, east of Brest Oblast, west of Gomel Oblast), Northern Ukraine ** Land of Pereyaslav (predominantly Poltava Oblast and east of Kyiv Oblast), southern part of

Left-bank Ukraine The Left-bank Ukraine is a historic name of the part of Ukraine on the left (east) bank of the Dnieper River, comprising the modern-day oblasts of Chernihiv, Poltava and Sumy as well as the eastern parts of Kyiv and Cherkasy. Left-bank Ukrain ...

, Little Russia, Central Ukraine ** COA of Chernihiv Principality

Land of Chernihiv (predominantly Chernihiv Oblast, west of Bryansk Oblast, east of Gomel Oblast), northern part of

, Little Russia, Northern Ukraine **

Severia Severia (, ; ) or Siveria ( / , ''Siveria'' / ''Sivershchyna'') is a historical region in present-day southwest Russia, northern Ukraine, and eastern Belarus. The largest part lies in modern Russia, while the central part of the region is the c ...

(Sumy Oblast, Kharkiv Oblast, Kursk Oblast, Belgorod Oblast) **

Sloboda Ukraine Sloboda Ukraine, also known locally as ''Slobozhanshchyna'' or ''Slobozhanshchina'', is a historical region in northeastern Ukraine and southwestern Russia. It developed from Belgorod Razriad and flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries on the ...

(mostly Kharkiv Oblast) * Alex K Halych-Volhynia

Ruthenia, Kingdom of Rus, Western Ukraine, Western Oblast, Lesser Poland ** Alex Volhynia

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 ...

(Volyn Oblast, Rivne Oblast, west of Zhytomyr Oblast, north of Ternopil Oblast, north of Khmelnytsky Oblast), former principality **

Chełm Chełm (; ; ) is a city in eastern Poland in the Lublin Voivodeship with 60,231 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is located to the south-east of Lublin, north of Zamość and south of Biała Podlaska, some from the border with Ukraine. The ...

, Belz, San River,

Przemyśl Przemyśl () is a city in southeastern Poland with 56,466 inhabitants, as of December 2023. Data for territorial unit 1862000. In 1999, it became part of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Subcarpathian Voivodeship. It was previously the capital of Prz ...

(east of Podkarpackie Voivodeship and Lublin Voivodeship), former principality and a constituent land of Ruthenia ** Berestia (west of Brest Oblast, south of Podlaskie Voivodeship) ** Alex K Halych

Galicia (Lviv Oblast, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ternopil Oblast) ***

Red Ruthenia Red Ruthenia, also called Red Rus or Red Russia, is a term used since the Middle Ages for the south-western principalities of Kievan Rus', namely the Principality of Peremyshl and the Duchy of Belz, Principality of Belz. It is closely related to ...

***

Prykarpattia Prykarpattia () is a Ukrainian term for Ciscarpathia, a physical geographical region for the northeastern Carpathian foothills.Vortman, D. Prykarpattia (ПРИКАРПАТТЯ)'. Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine. Located at the outer foot of ...

( Boikos and

Lemko Lemkos (; ; ; ) are an ethnic group inhabiting the Lemko Region (; ) of Carpathian Ruthenia, Carpathian Rus', an ethnographic region in the Carpathian Mountains and Carpathian Foothills, foothills spanning Ukraine, Slovakia, and Poland. Lemkos ...

s, collectively

Rusyns Rusyns, also known as Carpatho-Rusyns, Carpatho-Russians, Ruthenians, or Rusnaks, are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group from the Carpathian Rus', Eastern Carpathians in Central Europe. They speak Rusyn language, Rusyn, an East Slavic lan ...

) *** Pokuttia (

Hutsul The Hutsuls (Rusyn language, Hutsul/; ; ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group spanning parts of western Ukraine and northern Romania (i.e. parts of Bukovina and Maramureș). In Ukraine, they have often been officially and administra ...

s) *

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 ...

(Khmelnytsky Oblast, Vinnytsia Oblast, north of Odesa Oblast, west of Kirovohrad Oblast), Lesser Poland *

Zaporizhzhia Zaporizhzhia, formerly known as Aleksandrovsk or Oleksandrivsk until 1921, is a city in southeast Ukraine, situated on the banks of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. It is the Capital city, administrative centre of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Zaporizhzhia ...

(Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, east of Kirovohrad Oblast), New Serbia, Central Ukraine * Pontic steppe, Wild Fields, New Russia **

Donbas The Donbas (, ; ) or Donbass ( ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. The majority of the Donbas is occupied by Russia as a result of the Russo-Ukrainian War. The word ''Donbas'' is a portmanteau formed fr ...

("Donets Basin") (Donetsk Oblast, Luhanks Oblast), also known as Cuman Land,

Slavo-Serbia Slavo-Serbia or Slaveno-Serbia was a territory of Imperial Russia from 1753 to 1764. It was located to the south of the Donets River, between the Bakhmutka River and Luhan River. This area today is located within present-day Luhansk Oblast a ...

, Eastern Ukraine ** Azov Littoral (Zaporizhzhia Oblast, south of Donetsk Oblast, southwest of Rostov Oblast) ** Black Sea Littoral, Southern Ukraine *** Over-Buh, Yedisan, Transnistria (Odesa Oblast, Mykolaiv Oblast) *** Bugeac (Budzhak/Bujak) (southwest of Odesa Oblast) *** Tavria (Kherson Oblast) *

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

(''Krym''), also known as Tavria, Taurida * Karpatska Ukraina-2 COA

Transcarpathia / Carpathian Ruthenia, Subcarpathian Rus, Carpatho-Ukraine and many others **

Maramureș ( ; ; ; ) is a geographical, historical and cultural region in northern Romania and western Ukraine. It is situated in the northeastern Carpathians, along parts of the upper Tisza River drainage basin; it covers the Maramureș Depression and the ...

* Northern

Bukovina Bukovina or ; ; ; ; , ; see also other languages. is a historical region at the crossroads of Central and Eastern Europe. It is located on the northern slopes of the central Eastern Carpathians and the adjoining plains, today divided betwe ...

(Chernivtsi Oblast)

Contemporary regions

Geopolitical, historical, and cultural factors play a role in assigning different areas of Ukraine to semi-official regions. The map on the right shows the approximate locations of some broad-brush regions. The terms "Central Ukraine", "Eastern Ukraine", "Southern Ukraine", and "Western Ukraine" occur in common usage. There is no clear definition of the boundaries of such regions, but rather a general reference. Lists of what may constitute such regions might include: * Central Ukraine, a more vague term, often denotes what is not included in Western or South-Eastern definitions. * Eastern Ukraine may mean either the Don basin, Sloboda Ukraine, continental Taurida regions etc. * Southern Ukraine often includes the whole Taurida, the Kryvyi Rih basin, and the regions of Mykolayiv and Odesa oblasts. Alternatively it may include the Don basin, in particularly the adjacent land to the Azov Sea. *

Western Ukraine Western Ukraine or West Ukraine (, ) refers to the western territories of Ukraine. There is no universally accepted definition of the territory's boundaries, but the contemporary Ukrainian administrative regions ( oblasts) of Chernivtsi, I ...

may mean either the historic region of Galicia, or may also include Volhynia, Podolia, Transcarpathia, and/or Bukovina. Other terms are rarely used – such as "South-western Ukraine", which can denote either Transcarpathia, or

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

. Sometimes the term "South-eastern Ukraine" is used to define both regions of the Southern and Eastern Ukraine. Due to the shape of the country, in narrow definition, term "Northern Ukraine" is often used to denote either the bulge of Chernihiv/

Sumy Sumy (, , ) is a city in northeastern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Sumy Oblast. The city is situated on the banks of the Psel (river), Psel River and has a population of making it the 23rd-largest in the country. The city ...

oblasts or, in broader terms, the whole of

. "North-western Ukraine" almost exclusively refers to the historic region of

. This makes the term "North-eastern Ukraine" rarest of them all – it is either used as synonym for the narrow definition of Northern Ukraine, or as synonym for

(particularly

Sumy Oblast Sumy Oblast (), also known as Sumshchyna (), is an oblast (province) in northeast Ukraine. The oblast was created in its modern-day form, from the merging of raions from Kharkiv Oblast, Chernihiv Oblast, and Poltava Oblast in 1939 by the Presid ...

). File:Central Ukr.png, Central Ukraine File:Eastern Ukr.png, Eastern Ukraine File:Northern Ukr.png, Northern Ukraine File:Southern Ukr.png, Southern Ukraine File:Western Ukr.png, Western Ukraine

Historical states

Kievan Rus Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,. * was the first 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 Atlas of Russ ...

(a state of

Early East Slavs The early Slavs were speakers of Indo-European languages, Indo-European dialects who lived during the Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages (approximately from the 5th to the 10th centuries AD) in Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Ea ...

), (879–1240) *

Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia The Principality or, from 1253, Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, also known as the Kingdom of Ruthenia, Kingdom of Rus', or Kingdom of Russia, also Halych–Volhynian Kingdom was a medieval state in Eastern Europe which existed from 1199 to 1349. I ...

(1199–1349) *

Cossack Hetmanate The Cossack Hetmanate (; Cossack Hetmanate#Name, see other names), officially the Zaporozhian Host (; ), was a Ukrainian Cossacks, Cossack state. Its territory was located mostly in central Ukraine, as well as in parts of Belarus and southwest ...

(1649–1764) * Central Rada of 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, ...

(1917–1918) * Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets (1917–1918) * Odesa Soviet Republic (1918) * Donetsk–Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic (1918) * Ukrainian Soviet Republic (1918) * Hetmanate of the Ukrainian State (1918) *

West Ukrainian People's Republic The West Ukrainian People's Republic (; West Ukrainian People's Republic#Name, see other names) was a short-lived state that controlled most of Eastern Galicia from November 1918 to July 1919. It included major cities of Lviv, Ternopil, Kolom ...

(1918–1919) * Kholodny Yar Republic (1919-1922) * Directorate of the Ukrainian People's Republic (1918–1920) *

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. ...

(1919–1991) * Galician Soviet Socialist Republic (1920) * Carpatho-Ukraine (1938–1939) * Ukrainian national government (1941) *

Reichskommissariat Ukraine The ''Reichskommissariat Ukraine'' (RKU; ) was an administrative entity of the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories of Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1944. It served as the German civilian occupation regime in the Ukrainian SSR, and ...

(1941-1944) *

(1991–present)

References

* Paul Robert Magosci, ''Ukraine: A Historical Atlas'', 1985.

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

Press, Toronto. {{Ukrainian historical regions Historical regions

Ukrainian genealogy Historical regions

Main historical regions

Traditional regions

Contemporary regions

Historical states

See also

References