Administrative divisions of Ukraine

Part of a series on the
Subdivisions of Ukraine
First level
1 autonomous republic 24 oblasts 2 cities with special status
Second level
136 raions
Third level
1469 hromadas
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The administrative divisions of Ukraine (Ukrainian: Адміністративний устрій України, romanized: Administratyvnyi ustrii Ukrainy [ɐdʲmʲinʲistrɐˈtɪu̯nei̯ ˈustʲrʲii̯ ʊkrɐˈjine]) 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.^[1][2]

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.^[3]

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.^[4]

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
• raions
• urban districts (or city districts) – a variation of raion at discretion of the local city government
• populated places: cities, settlements, villages

• hromadas (communities)^[5] – not mentioned in the Constitution
• starosta okruh (district of a local senior) – not mentioned in the Constitution; subdivision of hromada at discretion of the local government

In 2020 an administrative reform that was planned some time ago finally took place. During the reform an administrative territorial unit of "council" (rada, e.r. city council, urban-type settlement council, village council) lost its significance as a territorial unit. All populated places and their adjacent territories that were administered by local councils were consolidated with neighboring councils into a new territorial unit of "community" (hromada). At the discretion of the hromada administration (council), their territory may be subdivided into starosta okruh.^[6][7] With creation of hromadas, selected raions were increased in size, while other raions were liquidated.

In addition, all populated places in the country (except for two cities with special status, Kyiv and Sevastopol) were resubordinated to raions liquidating gradation of cities (city of oblast significance would not be governed by raion administration)^[8] The new figure of 136 raions includes 10 in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol; since September 2023, the Crimean raions are functional.^[9] The cities of Kyiv and Sevastopol as well as the Chernobyl exclusion zone are designated into separate hromadas that are outside of normal administrative division hierarchy.

Also, the populated places that were used to be called "urban-type settlement" (selyshche miskoho typu) were truncated to the designation of "settlement" (selyshche). Such term, "urban-type settlement", existed in the ukase of the Presidium of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament), but not in the Constitution, while "settlement" in the same "ukase" was indicating "settlement" a variation of rural populated place similar to a village, the Constitution on the other hand does not classify settlement at all. The 2020 reform liquidated differentiation between two similar terms in the above-mentioned ukase.

Later in 2023, there was introduced a new type of populated place such as "poselennia", approximately similar to hamlet, for residential places without local administration such as cottage communities or similar in design.

• urban-type settlement
• city of oblast significance
• city of district significance

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

Listed in order the Ukrainian alphabet

Flag	Coat of arms	No.	Name	Area (km2)	Population (2021 estimate)	Population density (people/km2, 2021)	Capital	No. of raions	No. of hromadas	Location
		1	Autonomous Republic of Crimea	26,081	1,967,259	75.43	Simferopol	10	—
		2	Vinnytsia Oblast	26,513	1,529,123	57.67	Vinnytsia	6	63
		3	Volyn Oblast	20,144	1,027,397	51.00	Lutsk	4	54
		4	Dnipropetrovsk Oblast	31,974	3,142,035	98.27	Dnipro	7	86
		5	Donetsk Oblast	26,517	4,100,280	154.63	Donetsk (de jure) Kramatorsk (de facto)	8	66
		6	Zhytomyr Oblast	29,832	1,195,495	40.07	Zhytomyr	4	65
		7	Zakarpattia Oblast	12,777	1,250,129	97.84	Uzhhorod	6	64
		8	Zaporizhzhia Oblast	27,180	1,666,515	61.31	Zaporizhzhia	5	67
		9	Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast	13,928	1,361,109	97.72	Ivano-Frankivsk	6	62
		10	Kyiv Oblast	28,131	1,788,530	63.58	Kyiv	7	69
		11	Kirovohrad Oblast	24,588	920,128	37.42	Kropyvnytskyi	4	49
		12	Luhansk Oblast	26,684	2,121,322	79.50	Luhansk (de jure) Sievierodonetsk (de facto, 2014–2022)	8	37
		13	Lviv Oblast	21,833	2,497,750	114.40	Lviv	7	73
		14	Mykolaiv Oblast	24,598	1,108,394	45.06	Mykolaiv	4	52
		15	Odesa Oblast	33,310	2,368,107	71.09	Odesa	7	91
		16	Poltava Oblast	28,748	1,371,529	47.71	Poltava	4	60
		17	Rivne Oblast	20,047	1,148,456	57.29	Rivne	4	64
		18	Sumy Oblast	23,834	1,053,452	44.20	Sumy	5	51
		19	Ternopil Oblast	13,823	1,030,562	74.55	Ternopil	3	55
		20	Kharkiv Oblast	31,415	2,633,834	83.84	Kharkiv	7	56
		21	Kherson Oblast	28,461	1,016,707	35.72	Kherson	5	49
		22	Khmelnytskyi Oblast	20,645	1,243,787	60.25	Khmelnytskyi	3	60
		23	Cherkasy Oblast	20,900	1,178,266	56.38	Cherkasy	4	66
		24	Chernivtsi Oblast	8,097	896,566	110.73	Chernivtsi	3	52
		25	Chernihiv Oblast	31,865	976,701	30.65	Chernihiv	5	57
		26	Kyiv	839	2,962,180	3530.61	Kyiv	10	—
		27	Sevastopol	864	385,870	446.61	Sevastopol	4	—

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.

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.

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.^[13][14]

Raions (Ukrainian: район; pl. райони) are smaller territorial units of subdivision in Ukraine. There are 136 raions.^[15] 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.^[16]

An urban district is subordinate to the city administration.^[17]

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.^[18]

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).^[19]

A starosta okruh is an optional subdivision of hromada which may or not be implemented at the discretion of the hromada's ruling body (council). A starosta okruh is led by starosta, who is an elected official of the local government. Often used before, the term starosta was abandoned during the Soviet period.

An individual populated places as the main unit of population concentration. Populated places are combined into hromadas and are fundamental entities of hromada formation. In Ukraine there are known four kinds of populated places:

• City (misto)
• Settlement (selyshche)
• [Farming] Village (selo)
• Hamlet (poselennia)

Note: the cities with special status (Kyiv and Sevastopol) are governed by a separate local law and are equivalent of a region-like administrative entity.

During the princely times of Ukraine when it was known as Ruthenia (or "Kyivan Rus"), the territory of Ukraine was subdivided into lands (zemlia) or principalities which were used interchangeably. Following the liquidation of the Kingdom of Ruthenia by the Polish Crown (Casimir the Great) in the 14th century, principalities were replaced with Polish type subdivisions such as voivodeships, while an alternative name for them was the term "palatine".

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).^[20] The lowest division was the kurin.

• 
  Kropyvna Regiment
• 
  Lubny Regiment
• 
  Chyhyryn Regiment
• 
  Chernihiv Regiment
• 
  Nizhyn Regiment

The Zaporozhia lands were a territory along the coastline of Black Sea and the Sea of Azov in Southern Ukraine. Since the 14th-15th centuries the territory was administered by a military-monastic order of Cossacks (Cossacks Zaporoviensis) which defended the region and the Eastern Orthodoxy against Islamic influences (Busurmans – Muslims). In Zaporizhia lands Cossacks, when not called to arms, lived in settlements known "zymivnyk" (wintering settlement). During military campaigns Cossacks were reporting to the main fort known as Sich (palisade fortification). Women were strictly prohibited at the location of Sich. Unlike the Cossack Hetmanate, Zaporozhia subdivisions were different being subdivided into "palankas" (palatines).

• 
  Kalmius Palatine
• 
  Kodak Palatine
• 
  Oril Palatine

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 a coup instigated by the Central Powers against Central Rada (Central Council) in Kyiv, after which Pavlo Skoropadskyi reverted the reform back to the governorate-type administration similar in the former Imperial Russia.^[21]

Before the introduction of oblasts in 1932, Soviet Ukraine comprised 40 okruhas, which had replaced the former Russian Imperial governorate subdivisions.^[22][23]

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.^[24]

• Geography of Ukraine
• Local government in Ukraine

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Atlas of Ukraine.

• "Regions of Ukraine and their composition". Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 26 December 2011. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
• "Ukraine Raions". Statoids. Retrieved 8 February 2012.
• "Ukrainian cities and regions in alphabetical order". UkraineTrek. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
• "Administrative territorial composition of Ukraine" (PDF). Ministry of Regional Development, Construction, and Communal Living. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 August 2014. Retrieved 5 April 2015.