Svitlovodsk (, ) is a

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 ...

located on the banks 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 ...

Oleksandriia Raion Oleksandriia Raion is a raion (district) of Kirovohrad Oblast in central Ukraine. The administrative center of the raion is the city of Oleksandriia, which was incorporated separately as a city of regional significance (Ukraine), city of oblast si ...

, part of

Kirovohrad Oblast Kirovohrad Oblast (), also known as Kirovohradshchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (''province'') in central Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Kropyvnytskyi. The oblast's population is It is ...

in central

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

. It is the administrative center of Svitlovodsk urban hromada, one of the many

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

s of Ukraine. The city has a population of around Between 1962 and 1969, the city was briefly renamed Kremhes, reflecting its status as a satellite city of

Kremenchuk Kremenchuk (; , , also spelt Kremenchug, ) is an industrial city in central Ukraine which stands on the banks of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. The city serves as the administrative center of Kremenchuk Raion and Kremenchuk urban hromada within ...

Administrative status

Until 18 July 2020, Svitlovodsk was designated as a city of oblast significance and belonged to the Svitlovodsk Municipality. It was the administrative center of Svitlovodsk Raion, even though it did not belong to the

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 ...

. As part of the administrative reform of Ukraine (which reduced the number of raions of Kirovohrad Oblast to four), Svitlovodsk Municipality was merged into Oleksandriia Raion.

History

Svitlovodsk was created in the 1950s during Khrushchev's regime to replace

Novogeorgievsk Novoheorhiivsk (; ) was a city in Ukraine that since 1961 has been flooded by the Kremenchuk Reservoir. History The city was established during the Polish people, Polish colonization of new territories that the Crown of Poland received after th ...

, a town in the flood plain of the dam for the new

Kremenchuk Hydroelectric Power Plant The Kremenchuk Hydroelectric Power Plant () is a run-of-river power plant on the Dnieper River just upstream of Kremenchuk in Svitlovodsk, Ukraine. The primary purpose of the dam is hydroelectric power generation and navigation. It is the third d ...

, and to house the dam workers. The power plant was needed for the

smelting Smelting is a process of applying heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to extract a desired base metal product. It is a form of extractive metallurgy that is used to obtain many metals such as iron-making, iron, copper extraction, copper ...

of industry-grade metals and alloys, for defense purposes. The facility was secret for several years, but is operating today as a private enterprise. When the dam was completed, Khrushchev attended the opening ceremonies. The city then expanded westward, along the coast. In local culture, the city is divided into Old Svitlovodsk and New Svitlovodsk.

Geography

Climate

Twin towns – sister cities

Schorndorf Schorndorf () is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located approximately 26 km east of Stuttgart. Its train station is the terminus of the S2 line of the Stuttgart S-Bahn. The town is also sometimes referred to as ' (''The Daimler T ...

, Germany (2023)

Transportation

Transportation through the city is primarily through private-run bus lines with mini-buses, although the main buses still run. There is a working bus station near the east side of town. There is also a bus depot near the dam, as well as a train that runs along the dam and goes to the village.

Highlights of the city

The town hall is in the Old Svitlovodsk area and the eternal fire memorial is just below near the airplane memorial. The city is the birthplace of the Soviet

cosmonaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

Yuri Malenchenko Yuri Ivanovich Malenchenko (; born December 22, 1961) is a retired Russian cosmonaut. Malenchenko became the first person to marry in space, on 10 August 2003, when he married Ekaterina Dmitrieva, who was in Texas, while he was over New Zealan ...

and Ukrainian politician

Mykola Martynenko Mykola Volodymyrovych Martynenko (; born 12 January 1961) is a Ukrainian politician who served as a People's Deputy of Ukraine from 1998 to 2015, as a member of the People's Front (Ukraine), People's Front.Yuri Malenchenko Yuri Ivanovich Malenchenko (; born December 22, 1961) is a retired Russian cosmonaut. Malenchenko became the first person to marry in space, on 10 August 2003, when he married Ekaterina Dmitrieva, who was in Texas, while he was over New Zealan ...

– cosmonaut.

References

{{Authority control Cities in Kirovohrad Oblast Populated places established in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Cities of regional significance in Ukraine Populated places on the Dnieper in Ukraine Company towns in Ukraine