Podilsk (Ukrainian: Подільськ, pronounced [poˈd⁽ʲ⁾ilʲsʲk]; Romanian: Bârzula or Bârzu), until May 2016 Kotovsk (Ukrainian: Котовськ, Russian: Котовск) is a city in Odesa Oblast, southern Ukraine. Administratively, Podilsk serves as the administrative center of Podilsk Raion, one of seven districts of Odesa Oblast. It also hosts the administration of Podilsk urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine.[1]

Podilsk
Подільськ
Podilsk railway station
Podilsk railway station
Flag of Podilsk
Coat of arms of Podilsk
Podilsk is located in Odesa Oblast
Podilsk
Podilsk
Podilsk is located in Ukraine
Podilsk
Podilsk
Coordinates: 47°44′31″N 29°32′06″E / 47.74194°N 29.53500°E / 47.74194; 29.53500
Country Ukraine
OblastOdesa Oblast
RaionPodilsk Raion
HromadaPodilsk urban hromada
Area
 • Total
25.44 km2 (9.82 sq mi)
Elevation
248 m (814 ft)
Population
 (2022)
 • Total
39,220
 • Density1,500/km2 (4,000/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+2
Postal code
66300—314
Area code+380-4862
ClimateDfb
Websitepodilska-gromada.gov.ua

It had a population of 39,220 (2022 estimate).[2] In 2001, it had a population of 40,718. It is the largest city in the northern part of Odesa Oblast.

History

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Birzula was first mentioned in Ottoman documents in 1772 as one of the settlements of the Dubossar raya. The Russian-Italian physicist Gleb Wataghin was born in Birzula in 1899.[3][circular reference]

The city is known as the place where Soviet military leader Grigori Kotovsky was buried in a mausoleum. In 1935, the city was renamed Kotovsk after him; formerly the settlement bore the name Birzula. The mausoleum was later destroyed during the Romanian occupation of Transnistria. The monument was (again) dismantled in June 2017 to comply with decommunization laws.[4]

A Vladimir Lenin statue in Kotovsk was pushed off its pedestal and broken into several pieces on 9 December 2013.[5][6][7] On 21 May 2016, Verkhovna Rada adopted decision to rename Kotovsk to Podilsk and Kotovsk Raion to Podilsk Raion according to the laws prohibiting names of Communist origin.[8]

Until 18 July 2020, Podilsk was incorporated as a city of oblast significance and served as the administrative center of Podilsk Raion though it did not belong to the raion. In July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Odesa Oblast to seven, the city of Podilsk was merged into Podilsk Raion.[9][10]

Demographics

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According to the 2001 Ukrainian census, Podilsk had a population of 40,664 inhabitants. Ethnic Ukrainians account for over 80% of the population, 10% refer to themselves as Russians, and 5% are Moldovans. The exact distribution of the population by ethnicity was:[11]

Ethnic composition of Podilsk (formerly Kotovsk)
percent
Ukrainians
82.25%
Russians
10.34%
Moldovans
5.12%
Belarusians
0.46%
Bulgarians
0.20%
Armenians
0.15%
Ashkenazi Jews
0.14%
Poles
0.08%
Gagauz
0.06%

Native language composition according to the 2001 Ukrainian census:[12]

Native languages in Podilsk
percent
Ukrainian
70.3%
Russian
26.5%
"Moldovan" (Romanian)
2.3%
Romani
0.3%
Belarusian
0.1%
others
0.3%

Transportation

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The city has a major railway station and depot on the OdesaZhmerynka line (a stretch of the Rozdilna—Poberezhzhia line).

Notable people

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  • Nikolai Morshen, Russian second-wave émigré poet and translator of American poetry into Russian
  • Volodymyr Muntyan, Soviet and Ukrainian midfielder of the 1960s and 1970s
  • Viktor Seliverstov, Russian political figure and deputy of the 7th and 8th State Dumas
  • Gleb Wataghin, famous Ukrainian-Italian theoretical and experimental physicist
  • Valentyn Zghursky, head of the executive committee of the Kyiv City Council
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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Подольская городская громада" (in Russian). Портал об'єднаних громад України.
  2. ^ Чисельність наявного населення України на 1 січня 2022 [Number of Present Population of Ukraine, as of January 1, 2022] (PDF) (in Ukrainian and English). Kyiv: State Statistics Service of Ukraine. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 July 2022.
  3. ^ uk:Ватагін Гліб Васильович
  4. ^ "In the Odesa region, a monument to the participant of the "red terror" Kotovsky was dismantled" (in Russian). UNIAN. 11 June 2017.
  5. ^ "Лавина пішла: у Одеській області вночі зруйнували Леніна".
  6. ^ "Ukraine protests: Riot police storm offices of opposition party in". Independent.co.uk. 10 December 2013.
  7. ^ "Police: One more Lenin statue broken in Odesa region". Kyiv Post. 2014-01-04. Retrieved 2015-04-22.
  8. ^ "Про перейменування деяких населених пунктів" (in Ukrainian). Holos Ukrainy. 21 May 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
  9. ^ "Про утворення та ліквідацію районів. Постанова Верховної Ради України № 807-ІХ". Голос України (in Ukrainian). 2020-07-18. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
  10. ^ "Нові райони: карти + склад" (in Ukrainian). Міністерство розвитку громад та територій України.
  11. ^ "Національний склад міст за переписом 2001 року".
  12. ^ "Рідні мови в об'єднаних територіальних громадах України".