Hrabove, Donetsk Oblast

Hrabove (Ukrainian: Грабове, also spelled as Grabove), also known as Grabovo (Russian: Грабово, romanized: Grabovo) is a village in Horlivka Raion (district) in Donetsk Oblast of eastern Ukraine.[1] Its population was 1,000 as of the 2001 Ukrainian census. It is known for being the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was shot down by Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinsky, and Leonid Kharchenko, and crashed in the south of the village.[1]

Hrabove
Грабове
Grabovo
Грабово
Village
View towards Hrabove from across the Mius
View towards Hrabove from across the Mius
Coat of arms of Hrabove
Coat of arms
Hrabove is located in Ukraine
Hrabove
Hrabove
Hrabove is located in Donetsk Oblast
Hrabove
Hrabove
Coordinates: 48°08′45″N 38°38′54″E
Country Ukraine
ProvinceDonetsk Oblast
DistrictHorlivka Raion
Government
 • Village HeadVolodymyr Berezhnyi[1]
Area
 • Total8.56 km2 (3.31 sq mi)
Elevation
[2][3]
190 m (620 ft)
Population
 (2001 census)
 • Total1,000
 • Density120/km2 (300/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal code
86234
Area code+380 6255
Websitew1.c1.rada.gov.ua

Hrabove is located beside the Mius river, some ten kilometers north-east of Shakhtarsk, and on the border between the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblast.

History

The village was founded in the late 15th century[4] on the left bank of the river Mius; it was repositioned to its present site in 1787.

A stone church, the Holy Trinity Church, was built in 1803. Its basic form survives to this day, though it was substantially rebuilt in 1903.

After the fall of the Russian Empire, Hrabove was part of the Ukrainian People's Republic. In February 1918, it came under the control of the Makhnovshchina, led by the anarchist revolutionary Nestor Makhno.[4] After the Ukrainian–Soviet War, Hrabove became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

During World War II, the area was occupied by Nazi Germany at the conclusion of Operation Barbarossa. It returned to Soviet control following the Donbas strategic offensive of August 1943.

Following the outbreak of the war in Donbas in 2014, Hrabove fell under the control of the Russian-backed breakaway Donetsk People's Republic. In 2022, Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine and unilaterally annexed Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. In Ukrainian law, Hrabove and the other annexed regions remain part of the "temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine".

Shootdown of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17
Main article: Malaysia Airlines Flight 17

The village came to international attention when it became the site of much of the debris from the destruction of the Boeing 777 operating Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, which was shot down in the region on 17 July 2014, killing all 298 on board.[5] At the time, Hrabove was in the area contested by Ukrainian military forces and Russian people's militias as part of the war in Donbas.[6]

Politics and national identities

Since 2010 the head of the village council has been Volodymyr Berezhnyi (born 1955).

The 2001 census indicated a population of 1,000 people, categorized according to preferred mother tongue as 77.5% Ukrainian speaking and 22.0% Russian speaking, with a handful of Belarusian speakers.[7] Most people living in the village identify as Ukrainian.

References
  1. "Hrabove, Donetsk Oblast, Shakhtarsk Raion". Regions of Ukraine and their Structure (in Ukrainian). Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
  2. "Hrabove (Donetsk region)". weather.in.ua. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
  3. Погода в селі Горбів (in Ukrainian).
  4. История городов и сел Украинской ССР: Донецкая область. — Ин.-т истории АН УССР-К.: Глав.ред. Украинской Сов. Энциклопедии. стр. 745
  5. "Malaysia Airlines plane crashes on Ukraine–Russia border". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 17 July 2014. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
  6. "Fighting Intensifies Around MH17 Crash Site". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 28 July 2014. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  7. "Розподіл населення за рідною мовою, Донецька область (у % до загальної чисельності населення) - 014 ШАХТАРСЬКИЙ РАЙОН, Рік , Вказали у якості рідної мову". Retrieved 18 July 2014.
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