Nikolaev or Mykolaiv region, colloquial. Mykolayivshchyna is an area
in the southern part of Ukraine. The administrative center and largest
city is Nikolaev, other large cities are Pervomaisk, Yuzhnoukrainsk,
Voznesensk, Novy Bug, Ochakov, Snigirevka, Bashtanka, Novaya Odessa.
The region was formed on September 22, 1937.
Nikolaev (Mykolaiv) stands at the meeting of the Southern Bug and the
Ingul, a short sail from the Bug estuary and the Black Sea, and has been
the shipbuilding capital of southern Ukraine since Prince Potemkin
founded the naval yard and the town in 1789. The city grew around the
Admiralty, the old shipyard, and the commercial port that still handles
grain and industrial cargo, and its wide embankments, naval museum, and
surviving nineteenth-century streets record that maritime past. With
about 470,000 residents before 2022, it is the oblast center and a Hero
City of Ukraine.
Bashtanka is a small steppe town and raion center
east of Mykolaiv, set among black-earth fields on the upper reaches of
local steppe streams. The settlement dates to the early nineteenth
century, received city status in 1987, and remains an agricultural
service town of roughly 12,000 people, with grain elevators, local
administration, and a quiet provincial center rather than major
monuments. In 2025 it was named a Hero City of Ukraine for its role in
the defense of the oblast.
Voznesensk sits on the Southern Bug where
the river cuts through the southern steppe, about 90 kilometers
northwest of Mykolaiv, and has long been a river port, railway junction,
and processing town for the surrounding farms. Founded in the 1790s and
granted city status in 1938, it grew with mills, tanneries, and later
machine-building tied to the river crossing. The pre-2022 population was
about 33,000, and in 2025 the city received the title Hero City of
Ukraine.
New Odessa (Nova Odesa) is a small town on the right bank of
the Southern Bug, roughly 40 kilometers north of Mykolaiv, founded in
1776 as a steppe settlement and raised to city status in 1976. Its life
has always followed the river and the fields: grain, local trade, and
the road and rail links that tie the lower Bug to the oblast capital.
The population was about 11,500 in the early 2020s, and the town remains
a quiet riverside stop rather than a resort.
New Bug (Novyi Buh) lies
in the eastern steppe of the oblast, in Bashtanka Raion, on the
watershed between the Ingul and the Ingulets. The settlement began
around 1810 and became a city in 1961, growing as a railway and farming
center for the surrounding black-earth district. With roughly 15,000
residents, it is a practical market town of elevators, workshops, and
low-rise streets, useful as a base for the open steppe rather than for
set-piece sights.
Ochakov (Ochakiv) occupies a low cape where the
Dnieper-Bug estuary meets the Black Sea, opposite the Kinburn Spit, and
is the oblast’s historic sea fortress. An Ottoman stronghold known as
Özi stood here from the late fifteenth century until the Russian siege
and capture of 1788, after which the town became a naval and fishing
port. City status came in 1968. Today it is a small port of about 14,000
people, known for the fortress remains, the estuary beaches, and the
ferry link toward Kinburn.
Pervomaisk stands at the confluence of the
Southern Bug and the Syniukha, on the northern edge of the oblast, where
granite banks and rapids mark the transition from forest-steppe to open
steppe. The modern city was formed by merging three older settlements,
Olviopol, Bogopol, and Golta, whose roots go back to the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, and it took the name Pervomaisk after 1919. It is
the second city of the oblast, with about 62,000 people, bridges over
both rivers, and access to the Granite-Steppe Lands of the Bug, a
landscape park of cliffs, islands, and canyon reaches.
Snigirevka
(Snihurivka) is a railway and farming town on the Ingulets, southwest of
Mykolaiv, where the river crosses the dry steppe on its way to the
Dnieper. It developed in the late nineteenth century with the railroad,
received city status later, and serves as a local center for grain,
irrigation, and the Kherson-Mykolaiv road and rail corridor. The
population is on the order of 12,000. The town was occupied from March
to November 2022 and has since been rebuilding its housing, utilities,
and station area.
Yuzhnoukrainsk, officially renamed Pivdennoukrainsk
in 2024, is a planned city on the Southern Bug in Voznesensk Raion,
built from 1976 as the satellite of the South Ukraine Nuclear Power
Plant. Three VVER-1000 reactors, together with the Tashlyk
pumped-storage plant and the Oleksandrivka hydro station, form the South
Ukrainian energy complex, and the city of about 39,000 grew with
apartment blocks, parks, and services for plant staff. The site itself
has an older history: the Bug Gard fortress of the Zaporozhian Host
stood nearby in the eighteenth century, above the rapids.
In the historical and archaeological reserve "Olvia", in the village
of Parutino, fragments of a tiled pavement, workshops, burials (crypts
of the Zeus barrow), the temple of Apollo have been preserved.
The Black Sea Biosphere Reserve is located on the territory of the
region. Also here are the regional landscape parks "Granite-Steppe
Pobuzhye" and "Priingulsky". Near the confluence of the Arbuzinka
tributary with the Mertvod River, there is a protected natural boundary
"Trikratsky Forest". The Tiligul Regional Landscape Park is located on
the coast of the Tiligul Estuary.
Automotive
On the territory of the Nikolaev region passes:
highway M-14;
European route E 58;
Railway
In the Nikolaev
region there are railways owned by the state administration "Ukrainian
Railways" and related to the Odessa Railway. The operational length of
railway tracks is 700 km, of which 33.6% are electrified. The territory
of the region is crossed by the railway lines Nikolaev - Znamenka
(connecting the region with Kiev), Odessa - Voznesensk, lines to the
Crimea, to the Donbass, etc.
Water
The main water arteries of
the region are the Southern Bug and Ingul rivers. The Black Sea ports
are Nikolaev and Ochakov.
Geographical position
The region is located in the Northern Black Sea region, in the basin
of the Southern Bug River. It borders in the west with Odessa, in the
north - with Kirovograd, in the east - with Kherson and Dnepropetrovsk
regions. In the south it is washed by the waters of the Black Sea.
The northernmost settlement of the region is the village of
Lukashovka, Pervomaisky district. There are two western ones. They are
again in the Pervomaisky district. These are the villages of Ocheretnya
and Mikhalkovo. The easternmost is the village of Novogrigorovka,
Bashtansky district, located near Davydov Brod in the Kherson region.
And the southernmost one is the village of Pokrovka in the Nikolaev
district, located on the Kinburn peninsula.
Relief
The territory of the region is a plain, which gradually decreases from north to south to the Black Sea, the height is 20-40 m. For the most part, the territory belongs to the Black Sea lowland; the north is occupied by the spurs of the right-bank Dnieper Upland (height up to 240 m) with a highly dissected network of ravines, gullies and valleys. The highest point (255.6 m) is located northeast of the village of Elizavetovka in the Bratsk district. Wide interfluve spaces are characterized here by the presence of extensive rounded depressions ("pods"), which in springtime are filled with water and form temporary lakes.
Geology and minerals
The northern part of the Nikolaev region is occupied by the Ukrainian
crystalline shield, which consists of hard rocks - granites, gneisses,
quartzites and others. The southern part is located on the Black Sea
depression.
Among the minerals, construction materials (granites,
limestones, marl, kaolin, tripoli, gypsum, quartz sands, clays) have a
certain industrial value, there are also deposits of graphite, brown
coal, and peat. Sources of mineral waters and therapeutic mud have been
identified. The region is insufficiently provided with mineral
resources.
Climate
The northwestern part lies in the forest-steppe region, the southeastern part lies in the steppes. The climate is temperate continental. Summer is hot, windy, with frequent dry winds; the average temperature of the warmest month (July) is +23…+21 °C. Winter is not snowy, relatively cold; the average temperature of the coldest month (January) is −3…−5 °C. Annual rainfall ranges from 300-350 mm in the south to 450 mm in the north. The maximum precipitation is in summer, falling mainly in the form of showers. The growing season averages about 210 days.
Hydrography
The Black Sea coast is indented by estuaries (Bugsky, Berezansky, Tuzlovsky, Tiligulsky, Dneprovsky). The main rivers are the Southern Bug, which crosses the western part of the region from the northwest to the southeast, the Ingul (the left tributary of the Southern Bug) and the Ingulets (the right tributary of the Dnieper).
Soils
In the northern part of the region, ordinary chernozems predominate, in the south they are replaced by southern chernozems and dark chestnut, slightly and medium solonetsous chernozems. There are solonetzes, solonetzic-salty soils, swampy floodplains and peat bogs. In the riverine and coastal areas - sandy and sandy loamy soils, in some places turning into loose sands.
Vegetation
The vegetation is mainly of the fescue-feather grass steppes, in the river valleys - meadow. Almost the entire territory is plowed up. Natural steppe vegetation has been preserved only along the slopes of ravines and gullies. About 2% of the region's territory is occupied by forests and shrubs (mainly oak, aspen, maple, black poplar, birch bark, pine). The area of field-protective forest belts is about 29.3 thousand hectares. The Katerinovsky and Voznesensky forests are under state protection.
Animal world
The animal world is characterized by a fox, a hare, an ordinary hamster, a ground squirrel; from birds - quail, bustard, pheasant, gray partridge, wild ducks and gray goose, sandpipers, steppe and field larks and others; in the Black Sea, gobies, anchovy, mullet, sabrefish, mackerel, sturgeon and others are of commercial importance, in rivers - carp, bream, pike perch and others.
The Anetovskaya culture of the Late Paleolithic is named after the
village of Anetovka.
In 331 BC. Olbia unsuccessfully tried to
conquer the commander of Alexander the Great Zopyrion.
In the
first centuries of our era, settlements of the Scythians, Sarmatians and
Greek colonies appeared on the lands of the Northern Black Sea region.
Burial 11 of kurgan 11 near the village of Yablonya in the Berezan
River basin belongs to the Sivashovka-type monuments of the 2nd half of
the 7th century - the beginning of the 8th century.
The territory
between the Southern Bug and the Dnieper became part of Russia after the
Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774, and the territory to the west of the
Southern Bug - after the conclusion of the Iasi Peace in 1792.
The Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic was proclaimed on January 30
(February 12), 1918 at the IV Regional Congress of Soviets of Workers'
Deputies of the Donetsk and Krivoy Rog basins.
In 1918-1920, the
territory of the modern region was subjected to foreign military
intervention and became the scene of civil war battles. At the end of
the war, Nikolaevshchina became part of the Ukrainian SSR, in 1922 its
territory was part of the Odessa province, in 1923-1930 it was divided
between the Nikolaevsky, Pervomaisky, Kherson and Odessa districts, but
in 1932-1937 it became part of the Odessa region.
On September
22, 1937, the Central Executive Committee of the USSR adopted a
resolution on the disaggregation of the Kharkov, Kyiv, Vinnitsa and
Odessa regions. Odessa region was divided into Odessa and Nikolaev.
The structure of the Nikolaev region included three cities of
regional subordination - Nikolaev, Kherson and Kirovo (now
Kropyvnytskyi), as well as 38 districts, including 29 districts from the
Odessa region and 9 from the Dnipropetrovsk region: Adzhamsky,
Bashtansky, Bereznegovatsky, Berislavsky, Bobrinetsky , Varvarovsky,
Veliko Aleksandrovsky, Velikolepetikhsky, Vityazevsky, Vladimirovsky,
Golopristansky, Gornostaevsky, Dolinsky, Elanetsky, Elisavetgradsky,
Znamensky, im. Fritz Heckert, Kazankovsky, Kalinindorfsky, Kompaneevsky,
Kakhovsky, Novgorodkovsky, Novobugsky, Novovorontsovsky, Novoodessky,
Novoprazhsky, Novotroitsky, Alexandria, Ochakovsky, Petrovsky,
Privolnyansky, Skadovsky, Snigirevsky, Tiligulo-Berezansky, Ustinovsky,
Khorlovsky, Tsyurupinsky and Chaplinsky.
After the creation of
the Kirovograd region on January 10, 1939, 13 districts of the Nikolaev
region were transferred to its composition: Adzhamsky, Bobrinetsky,
Vityazevsky, Dolinsky, Elisavetgradsky, Znamensky, Kirovogradsky rural,
Kompaneevsky, Novgorodkovsky, Novoprazhsky, Alexandria, Petrovsky,
Ustinovsky. In the same year, Belozersky, Kherson and Nikolaev rural
areas were created as part of the Nikolaev region, and the district
named after. Fritz Heckert is abolished.
During the period of
fascist occupation, the territory of the Nikolaev region in its current
borders was divided between Germany and Romania. The western regions
were included in the Goltyansky and Ochakovsky districts of the Romanian
governorate of Transnistria, and the areas located east of the Southern
Bug River were included in the general districts "Nikolaev" and
"Tavria".
On March 30, 1944, by the Decree of the Presidium of
the Supreme Soviet of the USSR “On the formation of the Kherson region
as part of the Ukrainian SSR”, the Kherson region was created, in
connection with which the city of Kherson and Beloozersky, Berislavsky,
Bolshe-Aleksandrovsky, Golopristansky, Gornostaevsky, Kalanchaksky were
separated from the Nikolaev region , Kalinindorfsky, Kakhovsky,
Novo-Vorontsovsky, Skadovsky, Kherson, Tsyurupinsky and Chaplinsky
districts. By the same decree, Arbuzinsky, Blagodatnovsky, Bratsky,
Veselinovsky and Voznesensky districts, separated from the Odessa region
of the Ukrainian SSR, were included in the Nikolaev region.
On
September 12, 1944, after the renaming of the Nikolaevsky district to
Zhovtnevy, the center of the Nikolaevsky district was transferred from
the city of Nikolaev to the village. Zhovtneve.
On December 5,
1944, the center of the Blagodatnovsky district was transferred from the
village. Thanks in with. Lysaya Gora, and the Blagodatnovsky district
was renamed Lysogorsky.
On August 8, 1945, as a result of the
disaggregation of the Varvarovsky and Tiligulo-Berezansky districts, the
Shirokolanovsky district was created with a center in the village.
Shirokolanovka.
On February 17, 1954, 5 districts of the Odessa
region were included in the Nikolaev region: Velikovradievsky,
Domanevsky, Krivoozersky, Mostovskoy and Pervomaisky.
On June 7,
1957, the Shirokolanovsky district was abolished, and its village
councils were transferred to the Varvarovsky and Veselinovsky districts.
On January 21, 1959, Vladimirovsky, Lysogorsky, Mostovsky and
Privolnyansky districts were abolished.
In January 1963, after
the consolidation of the rural areas of the Nikolaev region, the
Bashtansky, Bratsky, Voznesensky, Domanevsky, Nikolaevsky, Novobugsky,
Novoodessky, Pervomaisky and Snigirevsky districts were created. On
January 4, 1965, due to changes in the administrative zoning of the
Ukrainian SSR, the number of districts of the Nikolaev region increased
to 16. Bereznegovatsky, Veselinovsky, Elanetsky, Zhovtnevy, Kazankovsky,
Krivoozersky and Ochakovsky districts were created.
On December
8, 1966, the Bratsky, Krivoozersky, Nikolaevsky, Ochakovsky and
Pervomaisky districts were subdivided, as a result of which Arbuzinsky,
Berezansky and Vradievsky districts were created. On March 3, 1988,
after the transfer of the Belousovsky village council to the Veliko
Aleksandrovsky district of the Kherson region, the Mykolaiv region
acquired modern borders.
In 2022, part of the region was occupied
by the Russian Federation. Russian troops failed to capture Nikolaev,
but captured the city of Snigirevka and several adjacent villages, as
well as the Kinburn Peninsula. The mainland of the region was liberated
in November 2022 during the retreat of Russian troops to the left bank
of the Dnieper.
Heads of the region
Heads of the regional
committee of the CP(b)U (since 1950 - KPU)
1937-1938 - Nikolai Volkov
1938-1939 - Pavel Starygin
1939-1941 - Sergei Butyrin
1944-1947 -
Ivan Filippov
1947-1950 - Andrei Kirilenko
1950-1961 - Andrey
Malenkin
1961-1964 - Alexander Ivashchenko
1963-1964, regional
committee - Alexander Ivashchenko (industrial) / Timofey Barylnik
(agricultural)
1964-1969 - Trofim Poplevkin
1969-1971 - Yakov
Pogrebnyak
1971-1980 - Vladimir Vaslyaev
1980-1990 - Leonid
Sharaev
1991 - Vladimir Matveev