Kharkiv region, colloquial. Kharkivshchyna is an
administrative-territorial unit in the north-east of Ukraine. Formed
February 27, 1932.
The administrative center and largest city is
the Hero City of Kharkov, other large cities are Lozovaya, Izyum,
Chuguev, Pervomaisky, Kupyansk, Balakleya, Merefa, Lyubotin, Krasnograd,
Volchansk, Dergachi, Bogodukhov, Zmiev.
Kharkiv
Raisin
Kupyansk
Lozova
Lyubotin
Pervomaisky
Chuguev
Cities of regional significance:
Balakleya
Barvenkovo
Bogodukhov
rolls
Volchansk
Dergachi
Zmiev
Krasnograd
Merefa
Southern (Pivdenny)
Kharkiv region is located in the north-east of Ukraine, on the
watersheds of the rivers of the Don and Dnieper systems, in the steppe
and forest-steppe zones. In the north and northeast, it borders on the
Belgorod region of Russia, in the east - on Lugansk, in the southeast -
on Donetsk, in the southwest - on Dnepropetrovsk, in the west and
northwest - on Poltava and Sumy regions of Ukraine. The area is 31,418
km² (5.21% of the territory of Ukraine). In terms of area, the region
occupies the fourth place in Ukraine - after Odessa, Chernihiv and
Dnipropetrovsk regions. Length: from north to south - 210 km, from east
to west - 220 km.
The northernmost settlement of the Kharkiv
region is the village of Degtyarnoye, Volchansky district (50° 26' 26";
37° 27' 18"), and the southernmost is the village of Dalokoe,
Bliznyukovsky district (48° 34' 21.64"; 36° 19' 49") . The length of the
region from the extreme south to the extreme north, therefore, is 1
degree 52 minutes of latitude.
The westernmost settlement of the
Kharkiv region is the village of Kapranske, Krasnokutsky district (49°
57' 35" ; 34° 53' 32"), and the easternmost is the village of Terny,
Dvurechansky district (49° 53' 16" ; 38° 01' 37") . The length of the
region from the extreme west to the extreme east, therefore, is 3
degrees and 3 minutes of longitude.
The relief of the region is
an undulating plain with a slight slope in the southwestern (towards the
Dnieper basin) and southeastern (towards the Don basin) directions. The
Central Russian Upland enters the northeastern part of the region, and
the spurs of the Donetsk Ridge enter the southern part.
The
highest point of the Kharkiv region is located in the Bogodukhovsky
district - to the north-west of the village of Lyutovka. This is a
watershed area, part of the Central Russian Upland, the maximum point of
which within the Kharkiv region reaches 236.5 meters. The lowest point
of the region is located in the Izyum district - south of the village of
Pasika (60 m).
75% of the region's water resources are in the Don
basin. The main water artery - the Seversky Donets - is the right
tributary of the Don. Among other rivers, the largest are Oskol, Udy,
Bereka. The total length of 867 watercourses is 6.4 thousand km, with
156 rivers having a length of more than 10 km. There are lakes in the
region, the largest of which is Liman. About 50 reservoirs have been
created, the most extensive of them being Krasnopavlovskoe. The
Dnieper-Donbass canal passes through the region. Yuzivske shale gas
field is located on the border of Donetsk and Kharkiv regions.
Kharkov region is divided approximately equally into two climatic
sub-belts of the temperate zone: forest-steppe (northern half) and
steppe (southern half). The average temperature in January in the region
is -5…-7 °C, in July +21…+22 °C.
The highest temperature recorded
in the region was approximately +40 °C, and in some exceptionally severe
winters, frosts crossed the line of -30 °C. The average annual rainfall
is 540 mm.
The forest cover of the Kharkiv region is only 11%.
Forests are located mainly in the mouths of rivers and on their right
banks. In drought, many small rivers dry up. Chernozems dominate among
the soils.
The steppe occupies most of the territory of the region. Previously,
it was covered with forb-fescue-feather grass vegetation. To date, the
steppe has practically not been preserved in its original form anywhere:
it is completely plowed up and represents huge cultivated fields of
wheat, corn, sunflower, sugar beet, etc. There are ravine forests
planted along the beams and ravines, and pine and pine forests are
common on the sandy terraces of the rivers. - oak forests. Compared to
the forest-steppe part, the soil cover of the steppe zone of the region
is simpler. Soils formed under the influence of the soddy process
predominate here. Forests cover 318,000 hectares in the region. More
than 1000 species and forms of trees and bushes grow in the forests and
parks of the Kharkiv region. The most common forest species are English
oak and Scotch pine. Spruce is often found. Of the satellite species,
linden, maple, and ash are common. Birch, alder, willow, aspen, poplar
grow on fairly moist soils. There are many wild fruit trees in the
forests - apple trees, pears. There are many animals that use the
specificity of the forest-steppe zone - they live in the forest, and
look for food in open areas, live in one place and breed in another,
etc. Elk, red deer, roe deer, wild boars live in Kharkov forests. Of the
predators, in addition to the fox and weasel, there are marten, forest
polecat, ermine, raccoon dog and wolf. Among forest rodents, squirrels,
forest dormouse, yellow-throated mice, underground and red forest voles
are especially common.
Birds are also represented by a large
number of species. These are nightingales, nightjars, woodcocks,
warblers, linnets, crows, magpies, storks, woodpeckers, corncrakes,
orioles, swallows, sparrows, tits, jays, wagtails, starlings, larks,
robins, owls and many other birds.
Not far from the city of Izyum, Mesolithic sites (“Izyum sites”) were
discovered, dated 8-6 thousand years BC.
In the village of
Karavan, the Scythian settlement dates back to the 5th century BC.
In the 7th-10th centuries, part of the future Kharkov region was
part of the Khazar Khaganate.
According to the Saltovsky
settlement near the village of Verkhny Saltov, the Saltovo-Mayak culture
was named.
In the XIII century, this territory was invaded by the
Tatar-Mongols. For a long time, the area remained sparsely populated.
Peasants appeared here only at the end of the 15th century. From the
middle of the 17th century, mass settlement of the region began.
The city of Kharkiv was founded by Ukrainian Cossacks and peasants who
fled from Polish oppression from the Dnieper region and western Ukraine
in the mid-1650s. The first Kharkov fortress was built according to
Ukrainian custom. In 1655-1656, the Moscow Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich
issued a decree on the creation of the Kharkov province. The fortress
was built at the confluence of the Kharkov and Lopan rivers. In 1765,
the Sloboda-Ukrainian province was created, in 1780 the
Sloboda-Ukrainian province was transformed into the Kharkov vicegerency,
the center of which was Kharkov. In 1796, the Sloboda-Ukrainian province
was recreated on the site of the governorship, which in 1835 was named
Kharkov. Kharkov province existed for 90 years.
From December
1917 to January 1918 Kharkov was the capital of the Ukrainian People's
Republic of Soviets. In February - March 1918, Kharkov was the capital
of the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic.
In June-December 1919,
during the Civil War, under the White Guards, the military Kharkov
region was created and existed, which in October 1919 stretched from
Orel to Northern Tavria and was four times larger in territory than the
modern Kharkov region. From March to June 1919, and also from December
1919 to June 24, 1934, Kharkov was the capital of the Ukrainian
Socialist Soviet Republic.
In June 1925, all provinces of the
Ukrainian SSR, including Kharkov, were abolished and replaced by smaller
districts. Along with others, there was also the Kharkov district. On
February 27, 1932, when the regional division was introduced in Ukraine,
the Kharkov region appeared on the map of the Ukrainian SSR. At first,
it noticeably exceeded the area of the modern region of the same name
and subsequently decreased several times due to the newly created
administrative-territorial units[9]. The Kharkiv region took on its
modern shape only after the Poltava region was established on September
22, 1937 in its western territory, and on January 10, 1939, in the
northwestern limits - Sumy. The gross output of large-scale industry in
1940 in constant prices amounted to 3,913 million rubles.
The
Kharkiv region was twice awarded the highest state award of the USSR -
the Order of Lenin - in 1958 and 1968.
2022 Russian invasion
In 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the territory of the
Kharkiv region became the scene of hostilities (see Battles for Kharkov
(2022) and Battles for Raisins). From the regional centers, Russian
troops managed to take Kupyansk and Izyum; in September 2022, during the
counteroffensive, the Armed Forces of Ukraine liberated most of the
territory occupied by Russia, including these cities.
Part of the
Kharkiv region, namely a small area of the northeast, is still
controlled by Russia.
Budget
The budget of the Kharkiv region for 2018 was UAH 14.7
billion.
The region has a high level of economic development. This is due to
both a favorable economic and geographical position (the proximity of
the coal and metallurgical base of the Donbass and the Dnieper region
stimulated the development of mechanical engineering and metalworking,
while the proximity of the highly developed regions of Russia - the
Central Black Earth, South-Western and Southern - determined the
development of agro-industrial complex enterprises), and quite rich set
of own raw materials. These resources make it possible to develop the
fuel and energy, chemical industries, glass and porcelain-faience
production, and the production of building materials.
Conventionally, the region can be divided into three industrial regions:
Central, East Kharkov and South Kharkov. The central one (Kharkiv and
adjacent areas) is distinguished by a high level of specialization and
concentration of industry; the leading complex of energy, electrical
engineering, transport and agricultural engineering has developed here.
East-Kharkovskiy district is centered around Kupyansk. The leading
branch of industry is mechanical engineering. The food and light
industry, the production of building materials and equipment for the
sugar industry are also developed in this region. The South-Kharkovsky
region has large gas fields - Shebelinsky, Efremovsky, Krestishchensky
and others. The cities of the district specialize in mechanical
engineering, the chemical industry and the production of building
materials. The cement-slate plant in Balakliya is one of the largest in
Europe. The light and food industries are also developed here. The
largest cities in the region can be divided into three types. Kharkiv is
a multifunctional city, where industry, science, education, services,
and management are developed. Izyum and Kupyansk are cities with
predominant industrial functions. In them, employment in industry
exceeds the average level in Ukraine. The city of Lozova performs
industrial and transport functions, there is a lot of employment in
industry and transport, and it is located at the intersection of routes
serving industrial centers. The chemical plant in Pervomaisky is one of
the largest in Europe (it specializes in the production of liquid
chlorine, bleach, polyvinyl chloride resins, pesticides and caustic
soda. The enterprise has the most significant capacities in Ukraine for
the production of polyvinyl chloride resins.).
Agriculture in the Kharkiv region specializes in the production of grain, sugar beet, sunflower, meat, milk, vegetables and fruits. There is a large breeding center "Ukrainka" in the region. Agriculture is characterized by a high level of development. Despite its industrial nature, the region provides about 5% of the gross agricultural output of the entire country.
The Kharkiv region has a very extensive transport network, with 60% of the volume of traffic accounted for by rail transport. There are 1442 km of railways here. And besides, the Kharkiv railway junction serves 10 million passengers a year. However, in terms of passenger traffic, road transport overtakes rail transport: buses serve almost 12 million people a year. The most important highways passing through the region: Kharkov - Moscow, Kharkov - Simferopol, Kharkov - Rostov-on-Don, Kharkov - Kyiv. There are 16 inter-regional routes, 68 intra-regional and 342 intra-district routes in the region. The total length of roads is 15,000 km: of these, the Road Service in the Kharkiv Region is responsible for the condition of 2,343.9 km of public roads of national importance; for public roads of local importance - 7328.9 km, the state enterprise "Roads of Kharkiv Region" is responsible. Kharkiv airport is mainly engaged in passenger traffic. The largest transport hubs of the region: Kharkov, Lozovaya, Kupyansk, Chuguev, Krasnograd, Lyubotin and Izyum.