Zaporizhzhia Oblast

The area of the oblast is 27,183 km²; its population (estimated as of 1 January 2013) was 1,785,243.

The area corresponding approximately to the modern Zaporizhzhia Oblast—according to Herodotus—was called in antiquity as the land of Gerrhos. This area was the burial place of the kings of the "Royal Scythians".

The modern Zaporizhzhia Oblast was created as part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic on 10 January 1939 out of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.

Zaporizhzhia, Soviet Ukraine, 1990

During the 1991 Ukrainian independence referendum, 90.66% of votes in the oblast were in favor of the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine.[6]

Russian invasion

Main article: Russian occupation of Zaporizhzhia Oblast

Damage to a residential building in Ukrainian-controlled Zaporizhzhia following the airstrike of 9 October 2022

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian armed forces occupied the southern part of the oblast, defeating the Ukrainian armed forces at Melitopol and at Enerhodar. Ukrainian forces conducted an attack that destroyed a Russian ship and damaged two others in the port of Berdiansk. As of May 2022, the northern parts of the oblast, including its capital city, Zaporizhzhia, are controlled by Ukraine.

On 4–5 July 2022 during the international Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC 2022) hosted in Lugano, Switzerland, The Czech Republic, Finland and Sweden pledged to support the rebuilding of Zaporizhzhia region.[7]

On 23–27 September 2022, the Russian Federation held a referendum in the occupied territories of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts for "independence and subsequent entry into the Russian Federation". These referendums are recognized by most states to be staged and against international law. On 29 September 2022, the Russian Federation recognized Zaporizhzhia Oblast as an independent state.[8] On 30 September, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced the annexation of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast and three other Ukrainian territories, and signed "accession decrees" that are widely considered to be illegal.[9][10] At that time, Russia was only in control of about 70% of the province as a whole.[11] The United Nations General Assembly subsequently passed a resolution calling on countries not to recognise what it described as an "attempted illegal annexation" and demanded that Russia "immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw".[12]

The following sites were nominated for the Seven Wonders of Ukraine.

• Kamyana Mohyla, prehistoric "Stone Tomb" site (museum-preserve)
• Khortytsia, island in the River Dnieper
• Dniprostroy hydroelectric power station

Until the major administrative reforms of 2020, the Zaporizhzhia Oblast was administratively subdivided into 20 raions (districts) as well as 5 cities (municipalities) that are directly subordinate to the oblast government: Berdiansk, Enerhodar, Melitopol, Tokmak, and the administrative center of the oblast, Zaporizhzhia.

Map of former raions of Zaporizhzhia Oblast

Note: Asterisks (*) Although the administrative center of the raion is in the city/town that it is named after, cities do not answer to the raion authorities (only towns do), but are directly subordinated to the oblast government and therefore are not counted as part of raion statistics.

Following the reforms of 2020, the oblast is divided into just five new raions, which incorporate the 5 former city (municipalities) that were directly subordinate to the oblast government:

People in Zaporizhzhia in 2015

Zaporizhzhia in 2021

According to the 2001 Ukrainian Census, the population of the oblast was 1,929,171. Some 70.8% considered themselves Ukrainians, while 24.7% were Russians, the rest nationalities were Bulgarians (1.4%), Belarusians (0.7%), and others (1.6%). Almost half the population (48.2%) considered the Russian language their native.[15]

Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic National University

Building of the Zaporizhzhia National University

Zaporizhzhia Regional Universal Scientific Library

679 daytime and 11 evening state schools plus 6 daytime schools that are non-budget supported secondary schools involved 271,400 pupils in 2001. 22 classical schools, 8 lyceums, a Sichovy collegium and 54 education-breeding complex bodies aren't out of reach to gifted children. New style 38 complex kindergarten-schools work too.[16]

Over 60,000 children develop their talents through out-of-school institutions. They attend 30 creative centres, 6 science-technical stations and four young naturalists' stations, five tourist clubs, three training flotillas, 11 children's sports clubs and 20 sports schools. The extra-scholastic education system has such a unique body as the Small Academy of Science. Boys and girls work there in six main disciplines: physics-mathematics, chemistry-biology, history-geography, philology, industrial and information technologies. The Small Academy young members maintain close friendly relations with scientists of big institutes and universities. 26 youngsters became winners of the All-Ukrainian Academy contest, so the Zaporizhzhia oblast team gained the 1st place.

325 secondary schools, five classical schools, a collegium, and three comprehensive schools use the Ukrainian language. Nevertheless, the minorities have a free choice—193 schools are Russian, a large Jewish school «Alef» works in Zaporizhzhia and smaller ones exist in other points, a Ukrainian-Bulgarian Lyceum is in Primorsky district. The Greek, Czech, Bulgarian languages are very popular in Yakimivsky, Berdyansky, Priazovsky and Melitopole rural districts. One may learn Hebrew, Yiddish, German, Polish, Tatar and other languages attending option courses anywhere.

Specialists keep on looking for an adaptive school model. 26 institutions develop the humanization process using new teaching technologies. The Khortitsky multi-profile teaching-rehabilitation centre has worked out methods for complete support of sanatorium-boarding-schools' children. Berdiansk is the town where a regional boarding school for orphans works out active socialization programs.

42 institutions provide vocational education. This system distributes well-trained workers to regional industries and businesses. The list of specialties includes over 100 names. Vocational schools give courses for improving qualifications in cooperation with unemployment centres. More than 1,500 jobless persons get new professions every year due to it.

The higher education system is the most flexible and advanced. Today 25 state-controlled technical colleges have I-II class rank and 8 higher institutions have III-IV class certificates. These are the university and the Zaporizhzhia Politechnic, the Medical University and the Institute of Law with Ministry of Internal Affairs in Zaporizhzhia City, the Pedagogical University, the Agricultural Academy in Melitopol and the Pedagogical Institute in Berdiansk. There are also five higher-education private bodies—the Institute of Economics and Information Technologies, the State and Municipal Government Institute and the others. Over 65,000 people are students in this oblast. There are 212 Doctors of Science and 1,420 Candidates of Science among their lecturers. The city of Zaporizhzhia is one of the biggest centres for foreigners' education in Ukraine.

The International Astronomical Union named two minor planets 5936 Khadzhinov and 19082 Vikchernov in honor of Ukrainians from Zaporizhizhia Oblast who made a significant contribution in science and education.

• (In Ukrainian) Запорізька область: Ілюстрована енциклопедія. [Т.2]: Архітектура і містобудування. Культура. Економіка. Райони області / К.С. Карафін, О. І. Красюк. -Запоріжжя : Дике Поле, 2004. - 293 с.

• Specialized investment portal – official website (in Ukrainian)
• Zaporizhzhia Regional Tourist Information Centre – official website (in Ukrainian)
• Zaporizhzhia Oblast Administration – official website (in Ukrainian)
• Zaporizhzhia Oblast Rada – official website (in Ukrainian)