Administrative divisions of Ukraine

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.

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First level

There are three types of first-level administrative divisions: 24 oblasts (regions), 1 autonomous republic and 2 cities with special status.

List

Autonomous republic

The Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Ukrainian: Автономна Республіка Крим) 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 (Ukrainian: область; pl. області) 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 (Ukrainian: міста зі спеціальним статусом): 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 (Ukrainian: район; pl. райони) 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 (Ukrainian: територіальна громада; lit. 'territorial community'; pl. територіальні громади), or simply hromadas (Ukrainian: громада; pl. громади) 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 (Ukrainian: сільська громада), settlement (Ukrainian: селищна громада) and urban (Ukrainian: міська громада). 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.