The administrative divisions of Ukraine ( ) are under the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Constitution. Ukraine is a unitary state with three levels of administrative divisions: 27 regions (24 oblasts, two cities with special status and one autonomous republic), 136 raions (districts) and 1469 hromadas.Regions of Ukraine and their composition . Verkhovna Rada website.Paul D'Anieri, Robert Kravchuk, and Taras Kuzio (1999). Politics and society in Ukraine. Westview Press. p. 292.
The administrative reform of July 2020 merged most of the 490 legacy raions and 118 pre-2020 cities of regional significance into 136 reorganized raions, or districts of Ukraine. The next level below raions are hromadas.
Following the annexations of Crimea and southeastern Ukraine by the Russian Federation, Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol as well as portions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts came under the de facto administration of the Russian Federation. Internationally, most states have not recognized the Russian claims.
Overview According to Article 133 of the Constitution of Ukraine as amended, the system of administrative and territorial organization of Ukraine consists of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, oblasts (provinces), raions (districts), populated places (cities, rural settlements, villages), urban districts, and hromadas (municipalities).
In the administrative reform of 2020, all populated places in the country (except for two cities with special status, Kyiv and Sevastopol) were resubordinated to raions. The 136 newly-created raions included 10 in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol; since September 2023, the Crimean raions are functional.
+ Administrative divisions of Ukraine Level of subdivision Territory Total First autonomous republic 1 cities with special status 2 oblasts (provinces) 24 Second raions (districts) 136 Third hromadas (municipalities) 1469
First level There are three types of first-level administrative divisions: 24 oblasts (regions), 1 autonomous republic and 2 cities with special status. Colour Description An oblast (sometimes translated as region or province) is the main type of first-level administrative division of the country. Ukraine is a unitary state, thus the oblasts do not have much legal scope of competence other than that which is established in the Ukrainian Constitution and by law. Articles 140–146 of Chapter XI of the constitution deal directly with local authorities and their competency. The administrative status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is recognized in the Ukrainian Constitution in Chapter X: Autonomous Republic of Crimea and is governed in accordance with laws passed by Ukraine's parliament. In 2014, the autonomous republic was illegally annexed by Russia as the Republic of Crimea. There are two cities with special status: Kyiv and Sevastopol (occupied since 2014). Their administrative status is recognized in the Ukrainian Constitution in Chapter IX: Territorial Structure of Ukraine. Unlike the oblasts and the autonomous republic, the cities with special status only have urban districts and are not subdivided into hromadas.
List
FlagCoat of armsNo.NameArea (km2)Population(2021 estimate)Population density(people/km2, 2021)CapitalGovernorsNo. of raionsNo. of hromadasLocation1AutonomousRepublic of Crimea75.43SimferopolOlha Kuryshko10—2Vinnytsia Oblast57.67VinnytsiaNataliya Zabolotna6633Volyn Oblast51.00LutskRoman Romanyuk4544Dnipropetrovsk Oblast98.27DniproVladyslav Haivanenko7865Donetsk Oblast154.63DonetskKramatorskVadym Filashkin8666Zhytomyr Oblast40.07ZhytomyrVitaliy Bunechko4657Zakarpattia Oblast97.84UzhhorodMyroslav Biletskyi6648Zaporizhzhia Oblast61.31ZaporizhzhiaIvan Fedorov5679Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast97.72Ivano-FrankivskSvitlana Onyshchuk66210Kyiv Oblast63.58KyivMykola Kalashnyk76911Kirovohrad Oblast37.42KropyvnytskyiAndriy Raykovych44912Luhansk Oblast79.50LuhanskSievierodonetskOleksii Kharchenko83713Lviv Oblast114.40LvivMaksym Kozytskyi77314Mykolaiv Oblast45.06MykolaivVitalii Kim45215Odesa Oblast71.09OdesaOleh Kiper79116Poltava Oblast47.71PoltavaVitaliy Dyakivnych46017Rivne Oblast57.29RivneOleksandr Koval46418Sumy Oblast44.20SumyOleh Hryhorov55119Ternopil Oblast74.55TernopilTaras Pastukh35520Kharkiv Oblast83.84KharkivOleh Syniehubov75621Kherson Oblast35.72KhersonOleksandr Prokudin54922Khmelnytskyi Oblast60.25KhmelnytskyiSerhii Tiurin36023Cherkasy Oblast56.38CherkasyIhor Taburets46624Chernivtsi Oblast110.73ChernivtsiRuslan Osypenko35225Chernihiv Oblast30.65ChernihivVyacheslav Chaus55726Kyiv3530.61KyivVitali Klitschko10—27Sevastopol446.61Sevastopol—4—
Autonomous republic
The Autonomous Republic of Crimea () geographically encompasses the major portion of the Crimean peninsula in southern Ukraine. Its capital is Simferopol. The Autonomous Republic of Crimea is the only region within Ukraine that has its own constitution.
On 16 March 2014, after the occupation of Crimea by the Russian military, a referendum on joining the Russian Federation was held. A majority of votes supported the measure. On 21 March 2014, the Russian Duma voted to annex Crimea as a subject into the Russian Federation. The Ukrainian government does not recognize the referendum or annexation of Crimea as legitimate. On 27 March, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 68/262 by 100 to 11 votes, recognizing the referendum as invalid and denying any legal change in the status of Crimea and Sevastopol.
Oblasts
An oblast (; ) is on the first level of the administrative division of Ukraine.
Most oblasts are named after their administrative center. Volyn and Zakarpattia oblasts, whose respective capitals are Lutsk and Uzhhorod, are named after the historic regions Volhynia and Transcarpathia.
Cities with special status
Two cities have special status (): Kyiv and Sevastopol. Their special status puts them on the same administrative level as the oblasts, and thus under the direct supervision of the state via their respective local state administrations, which constitute the executive bodies of the cities. Following the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, Sevastopol is controlled by Russia and is incorporated as a federal subject of Russia.
Second level
Raions
Raions (; ) are smaller territorial units of subdivision in Ukraine. There are 136 raions. Following the December 2019 draft constitutional changes submitted to the Verkhovna Rada by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, 136 new raions have replaced the former 490 raions of Ukraine.
Urban districts An urban district is subordinate to the city administration.
Third level
Hromadas
The territorial hromadas (; lit. 'territorial community'; ), or simply hromadas (; ) were established by the Government of Ukraine on 12 June 2020 as a part of administrative reform that started in 2015.
There are three types of hromadas: rural (), settlement () and urban (). There are 1469 hromadas in total (as of November 1, 2023).
History
The Cossack Hetmanate was divided into military-administrative districts known as regimental districts (polks) whose number fluctuated with the size of the Hetmanate's territory. In 1649, when the Hetmanate controlled both the right and left banks, it included 16 such districts. After the loss of Right-bank Ukraine, this number was reduced to ten. The regimental districts were further divided into companies (sotnias), which were administered by captains (sotnyk). The lowest division was the kurin.
According to the Constitution of the Ukrainian People's Republic, the country was divided into zemlias (lands), volosts and hromadas (communities). This law was not fully implemented as on 29 April 1918 there was the anti-socialist coup in Kyiv, after which Pavlo Skoropadskyi reverted the reform back to the governorate-type administration.
Before the introduction of oblasts in 1932, Soviet Ukraine comprised 40 okruhas, which had replaced the former Russian Imperial governorate subdivisions.
In 1932 the territory of the Soviet Ukraine was re-established based on oblasts. At the same time, most of the Western Ukraine at the time formed part of the Second Polish Republic and shared in the Polish form of administrative division based on voivodeships.
References
External links