'Volyn Oblast' (,
translit. ''Volyns’ka oblast’''; also referred to as 'Volyn’') is an
oblast (province) in north-western
Ukraine. Its
administrative center is
Lutsk.
Kovel is the westernmost town and the last station in Ukraine of the rail line running from
Warsaw through to
Kiev.
History
:''See also:
Volhynia for earlier history''
Volyn was once part of
Kievan Rus before becoming an independent local principality and an integral part of the
Halych-Volynia, one of Kievan Rus
successor states. In the
1400s, the area came under the control of neighbouring
Lithuania, in
1569 passing over to
Poland and then in
1795, until
World War I, to the
Russian Empire where it was a part of the ''Volynskaya
Guberniya''. In the interwar period most of the territory, organized as
Wolhynian Voivodship was under the
Polish control.
In 1939 when following the
Molotov-Ribbentrop pact Poland was invaded and divided by
Nazi Germany and the
Soviet Union, Volyn joined the
Soviet Ukraine, and on
December 4,
1939 the oblast was organized.
Volyn Oblast districts.
Many Ukrainians rejoiced at the "reunification", but the Polish minority suffered a cruel fate. Thousands of Poles, especially retired Polish officers and intelligentsia were deported to Siberia and other areas in the depths of the Soviet Union. A high proportion of these deportees died in the extreme conditions of Soviet labour camps and most were never able to return to Volyn again.
In 1941 Volyn was invaded by the
Nazi Germany's
Barbarossa Offensive.
Nazis, with some local assistance, completed their
holocaust of the
Jews of Volhynia in late 1942.
Partisan activity started in Volyn in
1941, soon after German occupation. Partisans were involved in the
Rail War campaign against German supply lines and were known for their efficiency in gathering intelligence and for sabotage. The region formed the basis of several networks and many members of the local population served with the partisans. The Poles in the area became part of the
Polish Home Army, which often undertook operations with the partisan movement.
Rivers in the district
The
Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) began operating in the region in
1942 and then spread to other regions of Ukraine. UPA units fought the German Army,
Polish Home Army, then the
Soviets for many years after World War II. Some units of this army engaged in bloody widespread actions to ethnically cleanse the region of its local Polish population. Whole Polish settlements in Volyn were massacred, and some 30,000 to 60,000 Poles were killed (Polish sources gave even higher figures) (see
Massacres of Poles in Volhynia). Local Polish paramilitary units retaliated, killing around 15,000 or more local Ukrainians.
In January
1944 the
Red Army liberated the territory from the Nazi occupation.
In the immediate aftermath of
World War II the Polish-Soviet border was redrawn based on the
Curzon line. Volyn, along with the neighbouring provinces became an integral part of the
Ukrainian SSR. Most Poles who remained in the eastern region were transferred to the
Recovered Territories of western Poland (the former easternmost provinces of Germany) whose German population had been expelled. Some of the Ukrainians on the western side, notably around the city of Kholm (
Chelm in Polish), were also allowed to move to Ukraine.
The area underwent rapid industrialisation including the construction of the Lutskiy Avtomobilnyi Zavod. Nevertheless the area remains one of the most rural throughout the former Soviet Union. It currently ranks amongst Ukraine's poorest areas, likely due to a lack of investement and a declining infrastructure. Some of its lands are on the edge of the area affected by the
Chernobyl disaster.
Subdivisions
Detailed map of Volyn Oblast.
The Volyn Oblast is administratively subdivided into 16
raions (
districts), as well as 4 cities (
municipalities) which are directly subordinate to the oblast government:
Kovel,
Novovolynsk,
Volodymyr-Volynskyi, and the administrative center of the oblast,
Lutsk.
External links
★
Lutsk city council
★
Volyn Oblast State Administration
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